Two new African species of the genus Chordodes (Gordiida: Nematomorpha)

ZANCA F.; DE VILLALOBOS C.

Richmond, Virginia

Congreso; 87th Annual Meeting of The American Society of Parasitologists (ASP). 2012 First International Nematomorpha Symposium. Organizado por the American Society of Parasitologists (ASP).; 2012

the American Society of Parasitologists

The genus Chordodes, with more than 100 species described so far, has a worldwide distributioninhabiting mainly tropical and subtropical areas. In Africa, 34 species are known, 22 of which are well characterized and 12 need to be reinvestigated. Here, we describe two new species based on 5 indeterminate specimens belonging to the collections of the Museum National d?Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHNP). Sections of the mid-body cuticle and posterior end of these worms were cut, washed, critically point dried and mounted. All pieces were observed using scanning electron microscopy. We identified 2 new species clearly distinct from previously described species. The first of these new species (2 males and 2 females), are 78-175 mm long in males and 224-249 mm long in females. The cuticle of both sexes has simple, tubercle and crowned areoles, with dimorphism of this last in females. The simple areoles have smooth surfaces with some pores and bristles usually forked, the tubercle areoles are similar to the simple ones but, have a blunt tubercle, the crowned areoles appear in pairs or in groups of 3 areoles. The intraspecific variations will be discussed. The second new species (1 female) is 282mm long. The posterior end is rounded. The cuticle has 6 types of areoles. The simple areoles have smooth surfaces with few fine bristles; the tubercle, bulging, thorn and crowned areoles are isolated. The bulging areoles are smooth with minute tubercles like granules.