Maritigrella, Newman, 2000

Newman, Leslie J., 2000, A new genus of euryleptid ¯ atworm (Platyhelminthes, Polycladida) from the Indo-Paci ® c, Journal of Natural History 34, pp. 191-205 : 192-193

Maritigrella gen. nov.

D iagnosis

Body elongate oval, ¯at, raised dorso-anteriorly only over the area of the pharynx, margin with deep crenulated ruƒes, especially when the animal is resting. Background usually cream-white with transverse spots or stripes. Marginal tentacles long, slender, held erect. Cerebral eyespot small, composed of two elongate clusters with about 50±100 eyes, dorsal and ventral eyes scattered between tentacles, ventral eyes more numerous. Pharynx small, muscular and tubular, directed anteriorly; mouth anterior. Gut with anastomozing branches. Gonopores close together, anterior directly behind pharynx. Male pore just immediately behind the pharynx, female pore close to male pore. Sucker prominent, well separated and posterior to female pore and anterior to body mid-line.

Vas deferens unbranched, extending posteriorly along the intestine. Penis papillae with a short, pointed, unornamented, sclerotized stylet. Seminal vesicle oblong, of equal size to the prostate or smaller; ejaculatory duct long and wide. Prostate large, oval with thick muscular walls, lining smooth. Prostatic and ejaculatory ducts join at the base of the papilla and enter the stylet more or less immediately. Male antrum deep, female antrum with well-developed cement pouch and extensive cement glands, no uterine vesicles.

T ype species

Maritigrella eschara sp. nov., Heron Island , southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia .

Etymology

Name is feminine from the Latin, mare = sea, and trigris = tiger for its distinct striped colour pattern.

Remarks

Faubel (1984) noted that many euryleptids have been confused with other genera or families and suggested, for example, that the euryleptid genus Prostheceraeus contains some Pseudoceros species : furthermore, Prudhoe (1985) listed about half of the described Eurylepta species as belonging in Pseudoceros . In fact, details of the reproductive anatomy for many worms are unknown so that determination of the genus cannot be reliable.

The presence of a tubular pharynx (not ruƒed) and well developed, slender marginal tentacles which are distinct and not formed by ruƒing of the anterior margin (not pseudotentacles) (®gures 1, 2) clearly di erentiate these worms from the pseudocerotids. The present state of knowledge of polyclad taxonomy and phylogeny is too limited to warrant further speculation on phylogenetic relationships.

In comparison with most of the Euryleptidae , Maritigrella gen. nov. resembles Euryleptodes Heath and McGregor 1913 in lacking uterine vesicles; this latter genus, however, lacks marginal tentacles.