Chordodes capensis Camerano, 1895

De Villalobos, Cristina, Zanca, Fernanda & Schmidt‐Rhaesa, Andreas, 2007, Revision of the genus Chordodes (Gordiida, Nematomorpha) from Africa-III: ultrastructural redescription of Chordodes capensis Camerano, 1895, C. clavatus Linstow, 1906, C. digitatus Linstow, 1901, C. tuberculatus Linstow, 1901, and reinterpretation of C. ibembensis Sciacchitano, 1958 and C. uncinatus Sciacchitano, 1958, Journal of Natural History 41 (45 - 48), pp. 2775-2788 : 2776-2778

Chordodes capensis Camerano, 1895

( Figure 1 )

Chordodes capensis Camerano 1895, p 12 , Figures 28, 28a.

Material

Holotype: 1 „, Cape of Good Hope. Specific locality unknown ( Camerano 1895) ( RMNH Vermes 837) . Paratype: 1♀, from type locality ( RMNH Vermes 837a) .

Material examined. Holotype and paratype, SEM of midbody cuticle and LM posterior end.

Host

Undetermined mantid ( De Beauchamp 1923; Baylis 1927), undetermined Blatta ( Sciacchitano 1933) . In one man ( Baylis 1927; Coombs and Crompton 1991).

Description

The colour of the body is variable, dark brown (male) and yellowish brown (female). The male is 222 mm long, with a maximum diameter of 1 mm. The female is 224 mm in length and 1.7 mm in diameter. A white cap and a dark calotte are not present. The male posterior end is undivided ( Figure 1A ). The female posterior end is round ( Figure 1B ).

The male cuticle contains four types of areoles. Simple areoles ( Figure 1C ) are rounded, low (10 mm), and have fine and minute bristles on their apical surface. Simple areoles are the most abundant type and among these there are scattered tubercle areoles with a short tubercle on top (5.3 mm). Crowned areoles occur in clusters on the cuticle ( Figure 1C ). These clusters are composed of two crowned areoles, in combination with another type of areole, the circumcluster areoles. The filaments of the crowned areoles are short. Circumcluster areoles (about 11–15 areoles) resemble simple areoles with apical fine bristles, but more elevated (15 mm) and arranged around the crowned areoles. The interareolar furrow is narrow.

The cuticle of the female includes all four types of areoles as in the males ( Figure 1D ), but another type of crowned areole with very long projections (124 mm) occurs along the ventral midline. These crowned areoles are surrounded by 8–10 circumcluster areoles ( Figure 1E, F ).

Comments

This study by SEM allows confirmation of the original description by Camerano (1895) of C. capensis , where the cuticle bears four areolar types and the female differs from the male in having two types of crowned areoles, with short filaments and with long filaments at the apical centre.

Figures

Figure 1. Chordodes capensis. (A) Stereo microscopy, ventral view of male posterior end; (B) stereo microscopy, female posterior end; (C, D) SEM of male cuticle, image of midbody cuticle showing simple (1), tubercle (2), crowned (3), and circumcluster areoles (4); (E, F) SEM of female longitudinal ventral groove crowned areoles with long filaments (5). Scale bars: 16.6 mm (A, B); 20 mm (C–E); 10 mm (F).