Goffartia africana ( Micoletzky, 1915 ) Hirschmann, 1952

Tahseen, Qudsia & Mustaqim, Malka, 2015, A taxonomic review of the genus Goffartia Hirschmann, 1952 (Rhabditida: Diplogastridae) with a note on the relationship of congeners, Zootaxa 4034 (1) : -

Goffartia africana ( Micoletzky, 1915) Hirschmann, 1952

( Figs. 1 A, 2C, 3A, 6)

Diplogasteroides africana Micoletzky, 1915

Measurements. Table 1

Description. Adult: Body medium-sized. Cuticle with fine transverse striations and prominent longitudinal lines. Lateral field demarcated. Lip region truncate, continuous with the adjoining body. Lips fused, labial sensilla small, papillose. Amphidial aperture oval, situated about one-third of lip region width from anterior end. Stoma elongate, barrel-shaped. Cheilostom weakly cuticularised with walls converging posteriorly; gymnostom large constituting about 50–60% of stoma; stegostom possessing two posterior parallel rings close to its base, metastegostom unarmed. Anterior part of the pharynx, representing corpus and median bulb, about as long as the posterior part; median bulb well developed, muscular; basal bulb rounded, demarcated from isthmus. Nerve ring located in the posterior region of isthmus. Secretory-excretory pore distinct, at the level of basal bulb. Cardia small. Intestinal wall thick with wide lumen. Rectum about one anal body width long. Tail long, filiform, ending in a fine thread.

TABLE 1. Morphometric characteristics1 of species of Goffartia Hirschmann, 1952 as extracted from original and subsequent descriptions. Measurements are in Μm and generally given as a range of values).

1Approximate values estimated either from original illustration or calculated from the available values in species description.

Female: Reproductive system didelphic, amphidelphic with reflexed ovaries; anterior genital branch longer than the posterior one with distal part of ovary extending beyond vulva. Vulva preequatorial, located anterior to middle of body.

Male: Similar to female in general morphology. Spicules slender, slightly angular, gubernaculum troughshaped, large and wide, about three-fourth of spicule length. Genital papillae nine pairs (supposedly phasmids have been counted as the tenth pair as suggested by Hirschmann (1952) in the configuration of v1, v2, / -, v4, ad, (v5 + v6 + v7), pd. The precloacal pairs v1 and v2 spaced, subventral; v4 about one and half times cloacal body diameter posterior to cloaca, subventral; ad about two times cloacal body diameter posterior to cloaca, lateroventral; v5, v6 and v7 subventral and grouped together; pd subdorsal. Phasmids located between ad and v5. Tail long, filiform, ending in a fine thread.

Locality and habitat. Goffartia africana was first reported by Micoletzky, 1915 from freshwater algae from the still waters of the Zambezi River in southern Africa. The species has not been reported elsewhere since then.

Salient characters. The species is characterised by its transversely and longitudinally striated cuticle; truncate lip region; amphidial apertures about one-third of corresponding width or 1.5 times stoma width; stoma elongate, barrel-shaped with two rings close to posterior end; anterior part of pharynx equal to posterior part; nerve ring located in the posterior region of isthmus close to basal bulb; anterior genital branch longer with reflexed ovary extending beyond vulva; spicules slender, slightly arcuate; gubernaculum trough-shaped with digitate proximal end, about three-fourth of spicule length and genital papillae v5, v6 and v7 closely placed.

Remarks. The original illustration of species by Micoletzky (1915) lacks v3 d which was presumably overlooked; however, among the other papillae the phasmid had probably been shown between v4 and ad while both papillae of the pd pair are shown in the illustration (likely due to the dorsal side of the tail facing up in the posterior region).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Anterior body ends. A: Goffartia africana. B: G. filicaudata. C: G. heteroceri. D: G. variabilis. E: G. praepilata. F: G. phalacra. G: Female reproductive system in Goffartia sp. (Scale bar = 10 µm).