Schizochilus banesensis, Diez & Reygel & Artois, 2019

Diez, Yander L., Reygel, Patrick & Artois, Tom, 2019, Schizorhynchia (Platyhelminthes, Rhabdocoela) from eastern Cuba, with the description of fifteen new species, Zootaxa 4646 (1), pp. 1-30 : 22-23

Schizochilus banesensis sp. n.

( Fig. 12G , 15C )

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8B63964A-DB9B-4BE3-A0EC-07176AD0F423

Material. Observations on one live animal, whole mounted afterwards, designated holotype ( FMNH https:// id.luomus.fi/KV.619), collected in Playa Morales (type locality) (January 4, 2017), intertidal, upper 10 cm of finegrained sand, salinity 35 ‰.

Etymology. The epithet refers to its occurrence in Banes, area of the type locality.

Diagnosis. Species of Schizochilus with a spiny cirrus, covered with fine spines of ±2 μm long.A needle-shaped, 70-μm-long stylet runs centrally through the cirrus. Copulatory bulb with a 32-µm-long sclerotized distal cap.

Description. Live animal about 1.5 mm long, translucent, without eyes. Habitus and internal organisation as in S. espinosai sp. n.. Proboscis lips 279 μm long (n = 2). Pharynx 226 μm in diameter, located at 75%.

Two vitellaria extend between the brain and the copulatory bulb, one at each side of the body. The rest of the genital organs are situated in the caudal fourth of the body, with the ovary and the bursa near to the caudal body end. Two long testes are located laterally between the brain and the pharynx, one on each body side. Seminal vesicles open proximally into the copulatory bulb. Copulatory bulb 144 μm long, comprising the prostate vesicle and the cir- rus. Cirrus ( Fig. 12G , 15C ) 70 μm long and ±8 μm wide, armed with fine spines that are 1.7–2.3 μm long (x = 2 μm; n = 9). A stylet ( Fig. 12G , 15C ) lies centrally in the cirrus. It is slightly curved in the live animal; more curved in the whole mount (probably because of the squeezing). It is 70 μm long and 8 μm wide proximally, needle shaped, taper- ing to a distal sharp tip. The distal walls of the copulatory bulb are sclerotized, forming a 32-μm-long cap, which is 13 μm wide at the widest point. As such, it surrounds the cirrus for 46% of the latter’s length.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Schizochilus espinosai sp. n.. A, body from the live animal. B, cirrus and stylet. Schizochilus atlanticus sp. n.. C–D, cirrus and stylet. Schizochilus bueycabonensis sp. n.. E–F, stylet. Schizochilus banesensis, sp. n.. G, cirrus and stylet. Schizochilus maximus sp. n.. H, cirrus and stylet. B–H, from whole mounts. B–C, F–H, from the holotype. D, E, from a Reference specimen (HU X.1.22).

FIGURE 15. Copulatory bulb in species of Schizochilus (from whole mounts). A–B, Schizochilus atlanticus sp. n.. C, Schizochilus banesensis sp. n.. D, Schizochilus bueycabonensis sp. n.. E, Schizochilus espinosai sp. n.. F, Schizochilus maximus sp. n.. A, C–F, from the holotype. B, from a reference specimen (HU X.1.22).