Hopperia patagonica, Pastor, Catalina T. & Ward, De, 2004

Pastor, Catalina T. & Ward, De, 2004, New species of Hopperia (Nematoda, Comesomatidae) and Metachromadora (Nematoda, Desmodoridae) from Patagonia, Chubut, Argentina, Zootaxa 542, pp. 1-15 : 4-8

Hopperia patagonica sp. n.

( Figure 2 (A–I), Plate 1 A–L; Table 2 ; Table 3 )

Systematic position: Comesomatidae Filipjev 1918 ; Dorylaimopsinae De Coninck 1965

Type material: Ten males and ten females and three juveniles on slide numbers: HOLOTYPE, MACN Nº 34712; ALLOTYPE, MACN Nº 34713; PARATYPES, MACN Nº 34619; 34621; 34624–34625; 34714–34719. Col.: Lic. H. Zaixso.

Type locality: San José Gulf and San Matías Gulf, Chubut province, Argentina.

Stations: Holotype: S17: 1M; Allotype: S18: 1F; Paratypes: S17: 3M, 2F, 2J; S18: 3M; S19: 3M, 4F; S33: 2F, 1J; S35: 1F.

Habitat: H. patagonica sp. n. has been found in very fine sand (median particle size 65.4–71.8 µm), 48.8–141.4 m depth, from San José Gulf and south coast of San Matías Gulf ( Fig. 1 ).

Etymology: From the Spanish word “Patagonia”, in reference to the area it was found

Measurements: see Table 2

Description

Males: Body cylindrical, tapers slightly towards the anterior end and has a conical tail with cylindrical terminus. Cuticle without circumferential surface striations. Punctuations present in transverse rows with lateral differentiations, having larger dots irregularly arranged on the lateral fields. These larger dots are only present on oesophageal and tail region. In the rest of the body the laterochordal punctuations are enlarged but arranged in circumferential rows. Six inner small labial papillae, 6 outer labial setae 1.5 (1.2–1.5) µm long and 4 cephalic setae 2.5 (2.5–3.0) µm long. Cervical region without somatic setae. The buccal cavity is armed with 3 odontia, 13 (10–13) µm long with their distal ends divided in three cusps, one central big and two smaller in lateral position (see Fig. 2 A,B), the pharyngeal muscles surround the posterior part of the stoma.

PLATE 1: H. patagonica sp. n. A. Amphid on anterior end of female; B. Buccal cavity, anterior end of female; C. Cephalic setae, anterior end of female; D. Entire male; E. Entire female; F. Amphid on anterior end of male; G. Copulatory apparatus, distal end; H. Buccal cavity, anterior end of male; I. Copulatory apparatus, proximal end; J. Tip of female tail; K. Lateral punctuations on the female cervical region; L. Pre–cloacal supplements of male.

Amphids spiralled ventrally towards the centre, with three turns 8 (8–10) µm diameters, A= 62 (57.1–68.9) % located at 9(6–9) µm from anterior end. Pharynx cylindrical 130 (122–145) µm long, and with inconspicuous bulb posteriorly. The cardia is small. Ventral gland is located at the cardia level and opens through an ampulla 90 (75–120) µm from anterior end. Reproductive system is diorchic, with opposed and outstretched testes, anteriorly in right and posteriorly in left position to the intestine. Spicules curved 45 (41–53) µm, 1.6 (1.2–2.1) abd in cord length. The proximal end presents a central cuticularized internal projection, 23 (21–23) µm long. Gubernaculum formed by one central tubular piece and two straight and slightly sclerotized, dorso­caudally oriented 14 (10–18) µm, 0.5 (0.3–0.7) abd apophyses. Glandular tissue observed situated between spicula and gubernaculum. Pair of short pre­cloacal setae at 10 (9–10) µm from the cloaca and 12 pre­cloacal supplements as tiny and weakly cuticularized pits with thin glands endings present. Tail 135 (115–140) µm long, 4.8 (3.3–5.5) abd, approximately 1/2 cylindrical in shape. There are three caudal glands not shown in figure.

Females: Females are similar to males in general body shape, anterior sensilla, amphids and cuticle. Ovaries opposed, reflexed, anterior left and posterior to the right of the intestine. Tail 160 (120–220) µm, 4 (3.5–6.8) abd.

Differential diagnosis

Hopperia patagonica sp. n. is characterized by the shape of odontia on anterior end (one big and two smaller cusps on each); odontia length in relation to the amphid length, near one and values of b and R3.

H. patagonica sp. n. is related to H. beaglense , H. americana , H. arntzi Chen & Vincx 1998 and H. australis Jensen 1992 . H. patagonica resembles H. beaglense in values of a, HD and A% but it can be distinguished from it by the small body length, spicules length, number of pre­cloacal supplements and shape of the tail.

H. patagonica also resembles H. americana and H. arntzi , in body length and c valuebut it can be distinguished from them by spicules length and shape and number of precloacal supplements.

H. patagonica resembles H. australis in body length; c value and spicules, gubernaculum and tail length but it can be distinguished from it by HD, A%, R3 values and number of pre­cloacal supplements clarify.

In table 3 the differentiating date of the males of Hopperia species are compared.

Figures

FIGURE 1: Map of the San José and San Matías Gulfs showing the sampling stations.

FIGURE 2: H. patagonica sp. n. A. Head of male holotype; B. Head of female allotype; C. Reproductive system female; D. End of the tail of male holotype; E. Reproductive system male; F. Anterior end female paratype; G. Anterior end male paratype; H. Copulatory apparatus male holotype, precloacal setae and supplements I. Posterior end of male paratype, copulatory apparatus, and tail. Scales: 1 = C, E; 2 = F, G, I; 3 = A, B, D, H.

Tables

TABLE 2: Measurements (µm) of H. patagonica sp. n. (*: range, mean value in parentheses).

	HOLO­ TYPE Male	PARATYPE Males n=10(*)	ALLO­ TYPE Female	PARATYPE Females n=10(*)	JUVENILES n=3(*)
L Danr	1520.0 75.0	1370.0–1520.0 (1468.0) 65.0–100.0 (82.5)	1600.0 100.0	1250.0–1850.0 (1541.0) 74.0–115.0 (91.5)	970.0–1100.0 (1020.0) 70.0–88.0 (77.7)
Daph dav V%	130.0 ­ ­	122.0–140.0 (132.9) ­ ­	160.0 860.0 53.7	130.0–210.0 (159.5) 700.0–900.0(744.4) 44.3–53.7(48.3)	120.0–125.0 (122.3) ­ ­
daa bdc bdnr	1385.0 11.0 28.0	1236.0–1385.0 (1337.1) 9.0–11.0 (9.5) 28.0–37.0 (30.3)	1440.0 10.0 45.0	1130.0–1630.0 (1390.9) 8.0–12.0 (9.4) 26.0–50.0 (36.9)	863.0–994.0 (914.3) 8.0 (8.0) 20.0–23.0 (22.0)
bdph mbd abd	30.0 38.0 28.0	32.0–46.0 (35.4) 33.0–48.0 (38.9) 25.0–36.0 (29.8)	55.0 55.0 40.0	28.0–55.0 (44.0) 30.0–65.0 (49.2) 25.0–40.0 (31.2)	22.0–31.0 (26.0) 23.0–28.0 (26.3) 17.0– 21.0 (19.3)
HD A% R3	36.7 57.1 22.7	19.6–36.7 (27.4) 57.1–68.9 (61.9) 22.7–33.3 (29.6)	18.2 62.5 25.0	14.5–33.3 (22.3) 50.0–69.2 (60.1) 18.2–33.3 (24.2)	25.8–36.4 (31.4) 61.5–72.3 (67.0) 25.0–37.5 (31.2)
Spic Spic% gub	45.0 1.6 14.0	41.0–53.0 (44.9) 1.2–2.1 (1.5) 10.0–18.0 (14.0)	­ ­ ­	­ ­ ­	­ ­ ­
gub% PS T	0.5 12.0 4.8	0.3–0.7 (0.5) 11.0–15.0 (13) 3.3–5.5 (4.4)	­ ­ 4.0	­ ­ 3.5–6.8 (5.1)	­ ­ 5.1–6.2 (5.5)
a b c	40.0 11.7 11.3	30.4–45.5 (38.3) 10.3–11.7 (11.1) 9.6–12.7 (11.3)	29.1 10.0 10.0	23.7–41.7 (32.4) 8.2–11.0 (9.8) 9.9–13.3 (10.4)	34.6–47.8 (39.3) 8.1–8.8 (8.3) 9.1–10.4 (9.6)