Freeliving marine nematodes from East African coasts.Bathyepsilonema anulosum sp.n. andLeptepsilonema richardi sp.n.

Abstract

Two new epsilonematid nematode species from Kenyan intertidal areas are described: Bathyepsilonema anulosum sp.n. -characterized by the large number of body-annules (118-124); small unispiral amphid, straight ambulatory setae and the very small copulatory thorns of the males -and Leptepsilonema richardi sp.n., -characterized by the sexual dimorphism in the amphid, the ornamentation of the body cuticle and the umbrella shaped capitulum in the males.Abbreviations: a: body length divided by maximum body diameter; ABD: body diameter at level of anus; amph %: diameter of amphid as a percentage of the corresponding head diameter; Asl: length of the anteriormost seta ambulatoria of the external subventral row; ant: length of the anal tube; b: body length divided by pharyngeal length; c: body length divided by tail length; cs: length of cephalic setae; dcs: distance from the rostrum edge to cephalic setae; gub: length of gubernaculum; L: body length; lct: length of copulatory thorns; mbd: maximum body diameter of posterior body region; (mbd): minimum body diameter; mbd/(mbd): maximum body diameter divided by minimum body diameter; mbd ph: body diameter at level of pharyngeal bulb; N: number of body rings; ph: length of pharynx; spic: length of spicule measured along the arc; S Sph: length of subdorsal somatic setae in pharyngeal region; t: tail length; tmr: length of non-annulated tail region; V: position of the vulva as a percentage of the total body length from anterior.

A Review of the Genera Croconema Cobb, 1920 and Pseudochromadora Daday, 1899 (Nematoda, Desmodoroidea): New Species from the Coasts of Kenya and Australia

“…Large crypto-spiral to closed loop-shaped fovea amphidialis (smaller in female: sexual dimorphism), located at the anterior margin of the main part of the head capsule just posterior to the sutura. In the paratype male the corpus gelatum (Coomans, 1978;Verschelde & Vincx, 1992) bulges out from the fovea amphidialis (Fig. 1b).…”

“…The Kenyan species, Croconema floriani sp.n., forms the last of a long list of newly described species from the superfamily Desmodoroidea (Nematoda) found in sediments of tropical mangroves at the Kenyan coast. (Verschelde & Vincx, 1992, 1993a, b, 1994 …”

Scanning electron microscopical observations on the coastal marine nematode Epsilonema pustulatum (Gerlach, 1952) Lorenzen, 1973 (Nematoda: Epsilonematidae)

“…Additionally, we compared E. pustulatum slides (X20-2, Lebanon and X14-3, Italy) used by Lorenzen (1973), with our material from Spain and E. anulosum (Verschelde & Vincx, 1992) paratype 13-4 from Kenya.…”

“…Additionally, E. pustulatum (from Spain, Italy and Lebanon) is compared with other former Bathyepsilonema species. E. anulosum (Verschelde & Vincx, 1992) is proposed as a junior synonym of E. pustulatum. …”

Leptepsilonema santii sp.n. from Spain and data on the variability ofL. filiforme (Nemata, Epsilonematidae)

“…L. exile and L. macrum Clasing, 1983 are known from North and South Chile respectively. L. parafiliforme Gourbault & Decraemer, 1987 occurs in Guadeloupe and L. richardi Verschelde & Vincx, 1992 in Kenya. L. filiforme Clasing, 1984 was described from the Galapagos, and it is found in large numbers in New Caledonia samples.…”