Macrostomum quiritium Beklemischev 1951
Creators
Description
Macrostomum quiritium Beklemischev, 1951
Localities. The specimens were found in the sampling sites coded as CR-4 (11°44’1.8’’S; 76°58’19.56’’W), CR-5 (11°44’4.38’’S; 76°58’20.52’’W) and CR-6 (11°43’30.9’’S; 76°57’54.1’’W)(Figure 1, Table 1) in the Chillón River in Lima.
Other localities in the world. The species has a worldwide distribution; it occurs in Russia, Poland, Switzerland (Schärer et al. 2011) and Argentina (Río de la Plata River and Paraná River) (Adami et al. 2016).
Studied material. Ten specimens observed alive (squash method) and 20 specimens (MUSM 3414–3433) fixed in polyvinyl-lactophenol.
Description. Adult specimens are whitish in reflected light. The body is 0.9–1.9 mm long and 0.3–0.4 mm wide. The whole body is covered by cilia. Large amounts of homogeneously distributed rhabdites are observed on the surface of the body. The anterior region of the body has a rounded shape, while the posterior region has the shape of a rounded spatula. The mouth is just behind the kidney–shaped eyes, with many cilia in its outline. The simplex pharynx has sac-shaped pharyngeal glands that are arranged beside and behind the pharynx. The intestine occupies 3/4 of the total length of the body and extends almost to the posterior region of the body.
Male reproductive system: Two oval–shaped testes arranged at the sides of the body, behind the beginning of the intestine and anterior to the ovaries (Figure 4A). The copulatory apparatus is located posterior to the intestine, and has a false thin–walled seminal vesicle, which stores the spermatozoa. It is continued through a thin intervesicular duct with the seminal vesicle, which has thick muscular walls and is smaller than the false seminal vesicle (Figure 4B–C). The prostatic vesicle is larger than the seminal vesicle and communicates with it through its proximal end. Within the prostatic vesicle, granulations are observed. These are grouped in small and long sacs that distally enter the stylet. The stylet is tubular with a slight curvature. The length of the stylet is 144.9 µm (99.6– 181.9 µm; n = 20; sd = 21). The proximal base of the stylet is 25.7 µm wide (15.1–34 µm; n = 20; sd = 5.6) and narrows towards the distal opening, which is 5.4 µm wide (3.9–6.5 µm; n = 20; sd = 0.7) (Figure 4C–E). The distal tip of the stylet presents a slight curvature, without lobulation or expansion, but the walls of the stylet in the distal region terminate in a very slight slope (Figure 4D–E). The stylet protrudes through the male gonopore, which is covered with cilia and is located in the posterior part of the body, behind the female gonopore.
Female reproductive system: The ovaries are approximately located at the mid-part of the body and are arranged lateroventrally to the intestine. The female genital atrium is located anterior to the false seminal vesicle of the male reproductive system and ventral to the intestine. The atrium is lined with abundant cells corresponding to the cellular valve (Ladurner et al. 2005) and in some cases, spermatozoa were observed anchored to this epithelium. The atrium communicates immediately with the female gonopore. In some adult specimens, egg formation was observed in the atrium (Figure 4A).
Remarks. The specimens described here represent the first record of M. quiritium for Peru, and the second for the Neotropical Region. M. quiritium has a tubular- or “J”-shaped penis stylet (Beklemishev 1951; Adami et al. 2016), which resembles 16 species of Macrostomum (M. amurense Beklemischev, 1950, M. axi Papi, 1959, M. balticum Luther, 1947, M. bulbostylum Kepner & Stiff, 1932, M. christinae Young, 1976, M. coxi Young, 1976, M. curvituba Luther, 1947, M. dongyuanensis Wang & Sun, 2015, M. georgeense Young, 1976, M. longistylifernum Ax, 1956, M. lignano Ladurner et al., 2005, M. magnacurvituba Ax, 1994, M. parmum Ball, 1977, M. sinensis Wang, 2005, M. spec 1 Ax, 2008, and M. spec 2 Ax, 2008). Among them, five species, namely M. axi, M. balticum, M. sinensis, M. spec 1 and M. spec 2, have the distal part of the stylet ended in a sharp point. In contrast, M. quiritium has the stylet with its distal region terminating in a very slight slope. The stylet of M. bulbostylum, M. christinae, M. coxi, M. curvituba, M. longistylifernum, M. lignano, and M. magnacurvituba has notably thickened walls at its distal end, which is not observed in the distal part of the stylet of M. quiritium found at the Chillón River. As for M. amurense, M. georgeense and M. parmum, the penis stylet is clearly bent; in contrast, in M. quiritium, the distal part of the penis stylet is slightly bent (Young 1976, 2001; Sun et al. 2015).
The internal morphology, i.e., the penis stylet, of M. dongyuanensis is very similar to that of M. quiritium; however, M. dongyuanensis has a “U”-shaped prostate vesicle (Sun et al. 2015), while M. quiritium has a sacciform prostate vesicle (Beklemishev 1951; Adami et al. 2016). Moreover, the shape of the stylet and the fact that the female atrium is lined with a cellular valve suggest reciprocal insemination (Schärer et al. 2011).
M. quiritium was found associated with algae such as Spirogyra sp., Hydrodictyon sp., Enteromorpha sp. and Cladophora sp. The average water temperature was 24.3 °C, the pH was 8.34 and the conductivity was 0.85 mS/cm (Table 2).
Sites Conductivity pH Temperature Type of Type of vegetation Other invertebrates in the (mS/cm) (C°) bottom sites
Notes
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Biodiversity
- Family
- Orchidaceae
- Genus
- Macrostomum
- Kingdom
- Plantae
- Order
- Asparagales
- Phylum
- Tracheophyta
- Scientific name authorship
- Beklemischev
- Species
- quiritium
- Taxon rank
- species
- Taxonomic concept label
- Macrostomum quiritium Beklemischev, 1951 sec. Reyes & Brusa, 2017
References
- Scharer, L., Littlewood, D. T. J, Waeschenbach, A., Yoshida, W. & Vizoso, D. B. (2011) Mating behavior and the evolution of sperm design. Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Science USA, 108 (4), 1490 - 1495. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1073 / pnas. 1013892108
- Adami, M. L., Brusa, F., Ronderos, J. R. & Damborenea, C. (2016) Muscular pattern in three species of Macrostomum (Platyhelminthes, Macrostomorpha). Journal of Morphology, 278 (2), 264 - 282. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1002 / jmor. 20633
- Ladurner, P., Scharer, L., Salvenmoser, W. & Rieger, R. M. (2005) A new model organism among the lower Bilateria and the use of digital microscopy in taxonomy of meiobenthic Platyhelminthes: Macrostomum lignano, n. sp. (Rhabditophora, Macrostomorpha). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 43 (2), 114 - 126. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1439 - 0469.2005.00299. x
- Beklemishev, V. (1951) O vidach roda Macrostomum (Turbellaria, Rhabdocolla) SSSR. Zeitschrift der Moskauer Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft, 56, 31 - 40.
- Beklemischev, V. N. (1950) O presnovodnykh Turbellaria Rhabdocoela Dal'nego Vostaka. Zeitschrift der Moskauer Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft, 55, 25 - 28.
- Papi, F. (1959) Specie nuove o poco note del gen. Macrostomum (Turbellaria: Macrostomida) rinvenute in Italia. Monitore Zoologico Italiano, 66, 1 - 19.
- Luther, A. (1947) Untersuchungen an rhabdocoelen Turbellarien VI. Macrostomiden aus Finnland. Acta Zoologica Fennica, 49, 1 - 38
- Kepner, W. A. & Stiff, M. W. (1932) Observations upon the American representative of Macrostomum tuba. Journal of Morphology, 54 (1), 221 - 230. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1002 / jmor. 1050540107
- Young, J. O. (1976) Systematic studies on limnic Macrostomum species (Turbellaria, Macrostomida) from east Africa. Zoologica Scripta, 5, 49 - 60. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1463 - 6409.1976. tb 00681. x
- Sun, T., Zhang, L., Wang, A. - T. & Zhang, Y. (2015) Three new species of freshwater Macrostomum (Platyhelminthes, Macrostomida) from southern China. Zootaxa, 4012 (1), 120 - 134. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4012.1.6
- Ax, P. (1956) Les turbellaries des etangs cotiers du littoral mediterraneen de la France meridionale. Vie et Milieu, Suppl. 5, 1 - 125
- Ax, P. (1994) Macrostomum magnacurvituba n. sp. (Macrostomida, Plathelminthes) replaces Macrostomum curvituba in coastal waters of Greenland and Iceland. Microfauna Marina, 9, 335 - 338.
- Ball, I. R. (1977) Turbellaria. Musee Royal de L' Afrique Centrale. Tervuren, Belgique Annales - Serie, 8, 492 - 511.
- Wang, A. - T. (2005) Three new species of the genus Macrostomum from China (Platyhelminthes, Macrostomida, Macrostomidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 30, 714 - 720.
- Ax, P. (2008) Plathelminthes aus Brackgewassern der Nordhalbkugel. Akademie Der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1, 1 - 696.
- Young, J. O. (2001) Keys to the freshwater microturbellarians of Britain and Ireland: With notes on the their ecology. Freshwater Biological Association, Ambleside UK, 142 pp.