Chordodes polytuberculatus, Schmidt-Rhaesa & Menzel, 2005

Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas & Menzel, Lena, 2005, Central American and Caribbean species of horsehair worms (Nematomorpha), with the description of three new species, Journal of Natural History 39 (7), pp. 515-529 : 525-527

Chordodes polytuberculatus nov. sp.

( Figure 5 )

Holotype: female from Costa Rica, Rio Tempisquito , in sandy substratum, coll. 25 February 1999 by B. Hanelt (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany, accession number ZMB 7385 ).

Description

The body colour is light yellow with brown spots. The anterior end is tapering, the posterior end with the terminal cloacal opening is slightly bulging. The specimen measures 29.5 cm in length.

The cuticle contains three types of areoles. The first is relatively flat, with a warty surface ( Figure 5B ). The second type is very slender and elevated ( Figure 5A, B ). It is distributed over the whole cuticle and surrounds areoles of the third type ( Figure 5A, B ). This third type are the so-called crowned areoles which have a base and an apical ‘‘crown’’ of filaments ( Figure 5A, B ). The apical filaments are numerous, slender and moderately long ( Figure 5B ). Crowned areoles and areoles of the second type form clusters which are distributed over the whole cuticle without regional differences ( Figure 5A ). The number of the second type of areole in these clusters varies around 20. The number of crowned areoles could not be detected, but it seems likely that they are two, as in most other Chordodes species.

Comments

The very slender form of the second type of areole and their distribution in great abundance over the whole cuticle is not known for other Chordodes species , neither from South or Central America nor from other regions and justifies the description of a new species.

Figures

Figure 5. Chordodes polytuberculatus n. sp. (A) Overview of the cuticle showing crowned areoles and abundant tubercles; (B) detail of crowned areoles, surrounded by long and slender areoles.