Byrsophlebs caligulachaena (Ehlers & Ehlers, 1981) Karling 1985

• Main Authors: Steenkiste, Niels Van, Volonterio, Odile, Schockaert, Ernest, Artois, Tom
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Platyhelminthes; Rhabditophora; Rhabdocoela; Byrsophlebidae; Byrsophlebs; Byrsophlebs caligulachaena; White Sea; Greenland; Norway; Bergen; Uruguay; Vasa; Solovki; Man Island; Egedesminde
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/6230431; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6230431

Byrsophlebs caligulachaena (Ehlers & Ehlers, 1981) Karling, 1985 (Fig. 11 C) syn. Maehrenthalia caligulachaena Ehlers & Ehlers, 1981 New locality. Playa Grande, Parque Nacional de Santa Teresa, Departamento de Rocha, Uruguay (34 ° 1 ’55.17”S, 53 ° 32 ’14.52”W). On algae (Corallimorpha sp.) in intertidal pools (18 /07/ 2004). Known distribution. Egedesminde, Greenland (Levinsen 1879); White Sea, Solovki Islands, Russia (Sabussow 1900); Plymouth Sound, United Kingdom (Gamble 1893); Port Erin, Man Island (Jameson 1896); Jekaterinhafen and Bergen, Norway (Graff 1905; Luther 1936); Tomales Bay, California, USA (Karling 1985). Material. Observations on a live animal. One whole mount. Discussion. The examined animal is very small and measures only 0.3 mm in the whole mount. The parenchym has a vivid red colour. Although the form of the stylet is not completely clear in the whole mount, it seems to be a funnel-shaped, oblong tube with a length of ± 25–30 μm and a distally-bent apex. The vasa deferentia are very broad near the pharynx and narrow caudally from the pharynx to strongly widen again as seminal vesicles laterally from the copulatory apparatus. These broad seminal vesicles fuse before penetrating the copulatory apparatus as one single broad seminal vesicle. In the live animal, two larger organs were observed caudally from the copulatory bulb. These are possibly a bursa and seminal receptacle. Karling (1985) reviewed the taxonomy and systematics of the Byrsophlebidae, in which he recognized four genera. These four genera are separated based on clear characters, but in practice sections are often needed to asses these characters. All species of Maehrenthalia Graff, 1905 and Byrsophlebs Jensen, 1878 have a female bursa, a structure that can normally be seen in the live animal. Such a bursa is lacking in species of Maehrenthaliella Karling, 1985 and Parabyrsophlebs Karling, 1985. Byrsophlebs differs from Maehrenthalia by the following features: a globular-oviform copulatory bulb with two layers of strong ...