Chapter 5. Phylum Platyhelminthes

NOREÑA CAROLINA; DAMBORENEA MARÍA CRISTINA; BRUSA FRANCISCO

Thorp & Covich´s Freshwater Invertebrates, 4th edition, Volume III: Keys to Nearctic Fauna

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Año: 2016; p. 91 - 109

The keys were built with users in mind who are not trained in the characteristics of species of freshwater Turbellaria.They use characters that can be seen essentially in whole mounts of living animals. Those characters for major groups can easily be seen by inexperienced observers and may be applied with great confidence at higher systematic levels. In lower levels, identification is more complex and requires more detailed observations. Once the identification is reached, it must be checked against the original description of the taxon or later descriptions in monographs such as Ferguson (1954) and the website created by L. Shärer (2013) for Macrostomida. Readers should also consult the following texts: Gilbert (1938) for Phaenocora, Kenk (1974, 1989) for Tricladida, Luther (1955) for Dalyelliidae, Luther (1960) for Catenulida, Macrostomida, Lecithoepitheliata, Prolecithophora, and Proseriata, Luther (1963) for Typhloplanida, Nuttycombe & Waters (1938) for Stenostomidae (Catenulida), and Nuttycombe (1956) for Catenulidae. More general information on turbellarians is available in Cannon (1986), Tyler et al. (2006-2012) and Kolasa & Tyler (2010). Table 5.1 lists the freshwater turbellaria species known for the Neartic Region.