Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 3182 No. 1: 3 Feb. 2012
Type: Articles
Published: 2012-02-03
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3182.1.1
Page range: 1–15
Abstract views: 135
PDF downloaded: 3

Freshwater planarians (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) from the Palearctic section of the African continent: new records, with the description of a new species

Zoology Department College of Science, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia Research unit Animal Reproduction and Developmental Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, 2092 Manar II, Tunisia
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam & Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis (section ZMA), P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Université Larbi Ben M'Hidi, Oum-El-Bouaghi, Algeria
Faculty of Science, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco
Zoology Department College of Science, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio) i Dpt. de Genètica, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona
Platyhelminthes Tricladida Dugesia tubqalis Dugesia sicula Polycelis felina Polycelis nigra Schmidtea polychroa North Africa

Abstract

On the basis of extensive surveys, an update is provided on the diversity, taxonomy, anatomy, and geographic distributionof five species of North African freshwater planarians, including the description of one new species. The new species Dug-esia tubqalis Harrath & Sluys, sp. nov. is mainly characterized by the following features: an elongated penis surroundedwith two penial folds at its base, the dorsal one bigger than the ventral ; an atrium divided into a male and common atriumby a kind of non-muscular ridge; a terminal expansion of the ejaculatory duct just before it opens at the tip of the penispapilla. The record of Dugesia sicula represents the first fully documented record of a naturally sexual, diploid (2n=18)population in North Africa. The first finding of Polycelis nigra on the African continent is documented. The genus Polyce-lis is recorded here with two species, Polycelis nigra and Polycelis felina. We also noted the presence of Schmidtea polychroa, which is widespread in Europe and introduced in North America.

References

  1. Ball, I.R. & Reynoldson, T.B. (1981) British planarians. Cambridge University Press, Synopses of the British fauna (new series), 19, 141 pp.

    Benazzi, M. (1974) Fissioning in planarians from a genetic standpoint. In: Biology of the Turbellaria. N. W. Riser & M. P. Morse (eds), 476–492. New York. McGraw-Hill.

    Boddington, M.J. & Mettrick, D.F. (1974) The distribution, abundance, feeding habits, and population biology of the immigrant triclad Dugesia polychroa (Platyhelminthes: Turbellaria) in Toronto Harbour, Canada. Journal of Animal Ecology, 43, 681–699.

    Charni, M., Harrath, A.H., Sluys, R., Tekaya, S. & Zghal, F. (2004) The freshwater planarian Dugesia sicula Lepori, 1948 (Platyhelmintes, Tricladida) in Tunisia: ecology, karyology, and morphology. Hydrobiologia, 517, 161–170.

    Charni, M., Ben Ammar, A., Jaafoura, M.H., Zghal, F. & Tekaya, S. (2011a) Ultrastructure of germaria and vitellaria in Dugesia sicula Lepori, 1948 (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Paludicola). Belgian Journal of Zoology, 140 (Suppl.), 111–118.

    Charni, M., Ben Ammar, A., Jaafoura, M.H., Zghal, F. & Tekaya, S. (2011b) Spermatogenesis and spermatozoon ultrastructure in Dugesia sicula Lepori, 1948 (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Paludicola). Belgian Journal of Zoology, 140 (Suppl.), 118–125.

    Dahm, A.G. (1958) Taxonomy and ecology of five species groups in the family Planariidae (Turbellaria Tricladida Paludicola), Malmö, 241 pp.

    Dahm, A.G. & Gourbault, N. (1978) Tricladida et Temnocephalida (Turbellaria). In: Limnofauna Europea. J. Illies (ed.): 16-20. Stuttgart and New York. Gustav Fischer.

    De Beauchamp, P. (1932) Turbellairés, Hirudinées, Branchiobdellidés (Deuxième Série). Archives de Zoologie expérimentale et générale, 73, 113–380.

    Deri, P., Colognato, R., Rossi, L., Salvetti, A. & Batistoni, R. (1999) A karyological study on populations of Dugesia gonocephala s.l. (Turbellaria, Paludicola). Italian Journal of Zoology, 66, 245–253.

    De Vries, E. J. (1984) On the species of the Dugesia gonocephala group (Platyhelminthes, Turbellaria, Tricladida) from Greece. Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 54, 101–126.

    De Vries, E.J. (1986) On the taxonomic status of Dugesia gonocephala and Dugesia subtentaculata (Turbellaria, Tricladida, Paludicola). Journal of Zoology London, 209, 43–59.

    De Vries, E.J. (1988a) A synopsis of the nominal species of the subgenus Dugesia (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Paludicola) from Africa and Madagascar. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 92, 345–382.

    De Vries, E.J. (1988b) On the identity and occurrence of Dugesia sicula and D. biblica (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Paludicola) in the Mediterranean region. Fortschritte der Zoologie, 36, 405–411.

    Gauthier, H. (1923) Observations sur quelques Planaires d'Algérie. Bulletin de la Société d’histoire naturelle d’Afrique du Nord, 14, 4–30.

    Gourbault, N. (1972) Recherches sur les Triclades paludicoles hypogés. Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 73, 1–249.

    Gourbault, N. (1981) The karyotypes of Dugesia species from Spain (Turbellaria, Tricladida). Hydrobiologia, 84, 45–52.

    Harrath, A.H., Charni, M., Sluys, R., Zghal, F. & Tekaya, S. (2004) Ecology and distribution of the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea in Tunisia. Italian Journal of Zoology, 71, 233–236.

    Harrath, A.H., Sluys, R., Ghlala, A. & Alwasel, S. (2011) The first subterranean freshwater planarians from North Africa, with an analysis of adenodactyl structure in the genus Dendrocoelum (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dendrocoelidae). Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, in press.

    Lauterborn, R. (1921) Faunistische Beobachtungen aus dem Gebiete des Oberrheins und des Bodensees. Mitteilungen des Badischen Landesvereins für Naturkunde und Naturschutz in Freiburg im Breisgau, (N.F.) 12, 113–120.

    Lázaro, E.M., Sluys, R., Pala, M., Stocchino, G.A., Baguňà, J. & Riutort, M. (2009) Molecular barcoding and phylogeography of sexual and asexual freshwater planarians of the genus Dugesia in the Western Mediterranean (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 52, 835–845.

    Marcus, E. (1955) Turbellaria. In: South African Animal Life - Results of the Lund University Expedition in 1950-1951. Vol. I. B. Hanström, et al. (eds), 101–151. Stockholm. Almqvist & Wiksell.

    Pala, M., Vacca, R. A., Casu, S. & Stocchino, G. (1995) The freshwater planarian Dugesia sicula Lepori from Sardinia (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida). Hydrobiologia, 310, 151–156.

    Reynoldson, T. B. and Young J. O. (2000) A key to the Freshwater Triclads of Britain and Ireland with Notes on their Ecology. Cumbria: Freshwater Biological Association, 25 pp.

    Sluys, R. 2007. Annotations on freshwater planarians (Platyhelminthes Tricladida Dugesiidae) from the Afrotropical Region. Tropical Zoology, 20, 229–257.

    Stocchino, G.A., Manconi, R., Corso, G., Sluys, R., Casu, S. & Pala, M. (2009) African planarians: Morphology and karyology of Dugesia maghrebiana sp. n. (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) from Tunisia. Italian Journal of Zoology, 76(1), 83–91.

    Thienemann, A. (1938) Rassenbilding bei Planaria alpina. In: Jubiläumsfestschrift bei Grigore Antipa, 641–661. Bukarest.

    Vila-Farré, M., Sluys, R., Almagro, Í., Handberg-Thorsager, M. & Romero, R. (2011) Freshwater planarians (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) from the Iberian Peninsula and Greece: new records, seven new species, diversity and ecology. Zootaxa, 2779, 1–38

    Vandel, A. (1925) Planaria subtentaculata Drap, n’est qu’une race asexuée de Planaria gonocephala Dugès. Bulletin biologique de la France et de la Belgique, 59, 498–507.