Taxonomy and phylogeny of the Archimonocelididae Meixner, 1938 (Platyhelminthes, Proseriata)

Abstract

The family Archimonocelididae Meixner, 1938 has been revised. The family contains two subfamilies, each comprising two genera: the Archimonocelidinae with Archimonocelis Meixner, 1938 and Meidiama Marcus, 1946, and the Calviriinae subfam. nov. with Asilomaria Karling, 1966 and Calviria gen. nov. with 20, 2, 1, and 3 species, respectively, 13 of which are new to science.

Molecular support for morphology‐based family‐rank taxa: The contrasting cases of two families of Proseriata (Platyhelminthes)

“…The taxon Meidiamidae has been introduced recently (Schockaert et al., ) to accommodate species previously included in the Archimonocelididae Meixner, (Martens & Curini‐Galletti, ). Representatives of the type genus of the Archimonocelididae ( Archimonocelis Meixner, ) feed on Cnidaria and store cnidae in special structures (“cnidosacs”) arranged in one longitudinal row on the dorsal surface of the worm (Karling, ).…”

“…Representatives of the type genus of the Archimonocelididae ( Archimonocelis Meixner, ) feed on Cnidaria and store cnidae in special structures (“cnidosacs”) arranged in one longitudinal row on the dorsal surface of the worm (Karling, ). Furthermore, they have a unique morphology of the pharynx, which is very long, horizontally oriented, and provided with unicellular eosinophilic glands in its proximal third, which presumably aid in the process of predation and storing of cnidae (Martens & Curini‐Galletti, ). Representatives of the Meidiamidae, on the other hand, have a very short, vertically oriented, collar‐shaped pharynx, without eosinophilic glands; they lack cnidosacs and, based on their gut content, are predators/scavengers of mesopsammic organisms (e.g.…”

A polypharyngeal marine flatworm (Platyhelminthes, Proseriata, Archimonocelididae) from eastern Australia

“…Only A. meditmanea Meixner, 1938 shares with the new species a chromosome number n = 12 (Martens & Curini-Galletti, 1993). However, in A. meditmanea the first chromosome is distinctly (about twice) larger than the second chromosome.…”

“…The species belongs to the genus Archimonocelis due to the presence of a single row of cnidosacs, a tubular pharynx, and a copulatory organ with a stylet and spines (see Martens & Curini-Galletti, 1993 for a revision of the genus). It is the only known species of the genus provided with more than one pharynx.…”

“…A l l the Archimonocelis species studied have the outer epithelium of the pharynx wholly ciliated and the glandular cells of the oesophagus intermingled among non secretory cells along all its length (see Martens & Curini-Galletti, 1993). Only the distal half is ciliated in A. medusa, where the glandular cells are mostly packed together, and occur only distally.…”