Chordodes moutoni Camerano, 1895

Zanca, Fernanda & Villalobos, Cristina De, 2005, Scanning electron microscopy of Chordodes moutoni Camerano, 1895 (Gordiida, Nematomorpha), Zootaxa 1082, pp. 37-44 : 39-42

Chordodes moutoni Camerano, 1895

( Figures 1 , 2 )

Type series: 1male and 1 female ( MNHNP Boccal 41 Nº 35), 1 male and 1 female ( MRSNT G49).

Type locality: China Henan province (Ho­Nan).

Additional specimens: Malaysia: 1 female Perak ( Camerano 1899); 1 female Kedah ( Camerano 1901) 1 male Foot of Gunong Inas, Perak ( Camerano 1903). China: 4 males, 2 females Chekiang province, Yünhwo Hsien ( Wu & Tang 1933).

Material examined: Lectotype: 1male. Lectoparatype: 1 female ( MNHNP Boccal 41 Nº 35), SEM midbody and posterior end.

Host: Undetermined mantid ( Camerano 1901, 1903, Schmidt­Rhaesa & Ehermann 2001).

Description of male lectotype. The body color is dark brown. The body length is 310 mm, diameter in the middle region 1.1 mm. Anterior end is tapered, without a white cap and dark collar. The mouth is terminal. The posterior end ( Fig.1 A) is tapered at the apex (0.23 mm in diameter) and with two small protuberant lobe­like structures which are separated by ventral furrow. The cloacal opening is ventral and is situated 215 µm anterior of the posterior margin of the worm. The cloacal opening is narrow, oval and is surrounded by circumcloacal spines. Anterolateral to the cloacal opening are two rows of bristles (bristlefields) that are 184.2 µm long and 26.3 µm wide. Bristles are undivided. The cuticle around the cloacal opening has short bristles ( Fig.1 A). The ventral and dorsal longitudinal furrows of the body are not clearly marked.

The whole body is covered with protruding structures called areoles ( Fig. 1 B). The cuticle between areoles is structured into cord­like folds ( Fig. 1 C, 1D). The body cuticle shows five different types of areoles which are numbered consecutively in the following for better orientation ( Fig. 1 D): Type 1 areoles ( Figs. 1 C, 1D) are the most abundant, they are oval or rounded (9.4–10.6 µm long and 4.3–5.9 wide), low (4.4 to 5.2 µm high) with a roughly structured surface. Scattered among these areoles are areoles of type 2, they are rounded but with a tubercle on top (7.8 µm high) (tubercle areoles) ( Figs. 1 C, 1D). These tubercles originate in a slight depression at the apex of the areole. The areolar type 3 are more elevated than the types 1 and 2 (7.9–11.9 µm high) and carry on their apical surface projections (bristle­like) which are clustered. These areoles occur individually or in clusters of 3 to 4 areoles ( Figs. 1 C, 1D). Areoles of types 4 and 5 form groups ( Figs. 1 B, 1C, 1E). Type 4 are represented by crowned areoles (16.9 µm high) that occur in pairs, have moderately short filaments (27.8 µm long) on top and are surrounded by about 9–15 areoles of type 5. The areoles of type 5 are the highest (17.4–19.6 µm), being conical, with a ring of short filaments at the apex and curved towards the center.

Description of the female lectoparatype. The body colour is dark brown. The female is 320 mm long with a maximum diameter of 1.8 mm. The posterior end ( Fig. 2 A) is rounded (0.30 mm in diameter) and the cloacal opening is central and terminal. Scattered bristles are present around the cloacal opening. The ventral and dorsal sides of the body are marked by a very darkly pigmented line ( Fig. 2 B).

The body cuticle includes all five types of areoles as in males, but along the ventral and dorsal midline, one further type of crowned areoles is present (type 6) ( Figs. 2 B, 2C). This special type of crowned areoles occur with very long filaments on top (273 µm long) and occur in clusters of two and are surrounded by about 10–11 elevated areoles of type 5 ( Fig. 2 C). These clusters are 150–163.9 µm apart from each other. They have equal distances from either side of the midline and from each other. The other type of crowned areoles (type 4) with short filaments is distributed all over the cuticle as in the male.

Dimensions. According to the literature ( Camerano 1895, 1899, 1901; Wu & Tang 1933) the males specimens of C. moutoni vary between 95 to 310 mm in length and between 0.5 to 1 mm in diameter; females range from 145 to 312 mm in length and from 1.2 to 2.5 mm in diameter. The length of the specimen from the Foot of Gunong Inas could not be determinate by Camerano (1903) because the worm was in pieces.

Figures

FIGURE 1: SEM. Lectotype male. A: complete view of the posterior end from the ventral side, cloacal opening (c) with circumcloacal spines, cuticle with short bristles (small arrow) and bristlefields anterolateral of the cloacal opening (large arrow), scale bar = 100 µm; B: general view of midbody cuticle, scale bar = 250 µm; C: midbody cuticle, areoles types 1 – 3, scale bar = 10 µm; D: lateral view of midbody cuticle, areoles types 1 – 5, scale bar = 25 µm; E: areolar clusters containing types 4 and 5 on lateral body, scale bar = 10 µm.

FIGURE 2: SEM. Lectoparatype female. A: posterior end with terminal cloacal opening (large arrow) and short bristles (small arrow), scale bar = 50 µm; B: crowned areoles (type 6) with long filaments in the longitudinal ventral groove, scale bar = 250 µm; C: areolar clusters in detail containing types 5 and 6 in the ventral midline, scale bar = 10 µm.