Chordodes cf. furnessi (Montgomery, 1898)

Yadav, Arun K., Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas & Limatemjen,, 2017, First report of the Gondwana genus Beatogordius from India, with further records of two Chordodes species (Gordiida, Nematomorpha), ZooKeys 643, pp. 53-61 : 57

Chordodes cf. furnessi (Montgomery, 1898) Figs 3 d–h, 4

Locality.

Tzuden stream of Longjang village, Mokokchung district, Nagaland, India. Collected by Mr & Mrs Lanu Pongen.

Description.

Female specimen of 264 mm length and 1.5 mm diameter. Simple areoles are flat and have fine bristles on top (Fig. 3d, f). Tubercle areoles and thorn areoles are present, but rare (Fig. 3e, f). Bulging areoles occur, mostly in pairs (Figs 3d, g, 4b, c). There is no distinction between crowned areoles and circumcluster areoles, all such areoles within one cluster have a similar shape and differ only slightly in size (Figs 3g, h, 4a). Crowned areoles with long apical filaments are present and restricted to a paired longitudinal line, presumably on the ventral side of the animal (Fig. 4b, c). Towards the anterior end there is a transition of the cuticular pattern; only one type of areole is present in the anterior end, which resembles simple areoles, is moderately elevated and has numerous bristles on top (Fig. 4d-f). Scattered spines are present between these areoles (Fig. 4f).

Taxonomic remarks.

In most Chordodes species, there are clusters composed of central crowned areoles and surrounding circumcluster areoles. These two types differ in structure but in some species, clusters are composed of areoles of the same type: Chordodes furnessi Montgomery, 1898 is one such species, first described from Borneo (Indonesia). Schmidt-Rhaesa and Yadav (2004) found specimens from Shillong, India which is very similar to this species, but, because of slight differences observed, it was recorded as Chordodes cf. furnessi . This newly reported specimen corresponds to the description given by Schmidt-Rhaesa and Yadav (2004), but adds some further observations. Bulging areoles were not previously reported, but they are figured (Fig. 1b in Schmidt-Rhaesa and Yadav 2004). Solid thorns have not been reported previously from this species, but are present in the newly reported specimen. Tubercles occur usually in the genus Chordodes as tubercle areoles, i.e., as areoles with a central tubercle on top, but in the present specimen, they occur near the base of simple areoles, as reported by Schmidt-Rhaesa and Yadav (2004). Due to these observations it is assumed that the specimens reported by Schmidt-Rhaesa and Yadav (2004) and in this work belong to the same species, which may or may not be Chordodes furnessi . The lack of rare structures such as thorns may be due to the scarceness of these structures.