Abstract:The present study provides a checklist of freeliving marine nematode species from nine intertidal sites located along the central west coast of India covering an area between latitudes 16°33′08.47″ N and 16°38′50.75″ N and longitudes 073°19′30.13″ E and 073°23′34.97″ E. The list includes 33 species of marine nematodes belonging to 20 genera and 13 families. The occurrence of nematode species identified appears to be correlated to character of the sediments across sampled intertidal sites. Ten families were encountered in sandy sites while in muddy sites the number was ten. Three families, namely Camacolaimidae, Ironidae, and Microlaimidae, were exclusive to the sandy sites, while Anoplostomatidae, Comesomatidae, and Linhomoeidae were only found across muddy sites. Some of the dominant free-living marine nematode groups encountered across all sites was represented by the genera Ptycholaimellus, Viscosia, Oncholaimus, Halalaimus, and species such as Sphaerolaimus balticus and Metachromadora suecica.
This work reports the occurrence of Thysanozoon brocchii from the rocky intertidal coast of Ratnagiri and Dwarka, the West Coast of India, for the first time. Two morphotypes were found, the first morph has a buff brownish papillate dorsal surface, with few specimens having white spots. The second morph has light coloured papillae which form a distinct cross marking along the dorsal surface. The species possesses double male copulatory apparatus with seminal vesicle, prostatic vesicle and sclerotized stylet. This cosmopolitan species has previously been recorded from Italy and Mediterranean, Japan, South and West Africa, Florida, New Zealand, Brazil, and United Kingdom. Synonymized species and older descriptions have been compared to examine similarities and dissimilarities. Considering the existence of varied colour morphs of this species, a detailed comparative analysis of morphological characters, reproductive histology and molecular framework is recommended.
The family Euryleptidae, consisting of 19 genera, is as colourful and distinct as the family Pseudocerotidae. Five species of Euryleptidae encountered during surveys in the intertidal rocky shores of Ratnagiri, Maharashtra are presented in the current study. Cycloporus variegatus is new records to India. Cycloporus australis and C. reticulatus are new records to India and reported for the second time after their first formal descriptions in 1982 and 2002 respectively. Eurylepta aurantiaca is a new record to the Indian ocean. The study also describes the new species Stylostomum mixtomaculatum sp. nov. and it is the first report of the genus Stylostomum from the tropical realms. Since Stylostomum and Acerotisa are known to be closely allied genera, efforts have been made to review their species assemblages and throw light on the existing ambiguities within the available information. With this report, the number of euryleptid species from Indian waters increases to eight.
A study of polyclad fauna in Maharashtra along the west coast of India and the Andaman group of Islands was carried out in the period 2018–2020. The paper describes Cycloporus decoratus sp. nov. and Eurylepta alicula sp. nov. based on external and internal anatomical features. The study also reports Eurylepta turma for the first time from the Indo-Pacific region and this is the second record of the species after its first formal description from Brazil in 1952. The paper comments on the distribution pattern of the genus Eurylepta and Cycloporus.
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