Freshwater nemertines from the Amazon Region and from South Africa

Abstract

Stiasny-Wijnhoff (1938) reconhece 6 espécies válidas do gênero Prostoma, a saber: P. lumbricoideum Dug., graecense (Böhm.), eilhardi (Montg.), grande (Ikeda), padanum Peir., e puteale Beauchamp. P. rubrum (Leidy) revalidado por Coe (1918), para as espécies norte-americanas aquarum dulcium Sill. e asensoriatum Montg., considera Stiasny-Wijnhoff provavelmente idêntico a P. graecense. Mas, se rubrum for entendido na base da diagnose de asensoriatum, não possue órgão sensorial frontal (presente em graecense) e as glândulas cefálicas não desembocam concentradamente (em graecense, sim). Os caracteres mencionados de rubrum (ou asensoriatum) foram reencontrados em material do México (Rioja 1941) e da Venezuela (Cordero 1943). Por isso, esta espécie até agora conhecida só do novo mundo, sem órgão frontal e com desembocadura difusa das glândulas cefálicas, deve ser acrescentada à lista de Stiasny-Wijnhoff.

Prostoma jenningsi sp. nov., a new British freshwater hoplonemertean

“…Generic names applied at one time or another included Emea, Nemertes, Folia, Frostoma, Stichostemma and Tetrastemtna, but since Hallez (1910) correctly pointed out that, of these, DugSs' Frostoma had priority, all the freshwater hoplonemerteans have been ascribed to this genus. Stiasny-Wijnhotf (1938) reduced the sixteen names then listed to six valid species, but this was increased to seven when Correa (1951) added the North American species not previously recognized by the former author. The seven currently accepted species are thus Prostoma eilhardi (Montgomery, 1894), F. graecense (Bohmig, 1892), F. grande* (Ikeda, 1913), F. lumbricoideum Duges (1830), F. padanum Pierantoni (1926 F. puteale* (Beauchamp, 1932) and F. rubriim (Leidy, 1850).…”

Occurrence of the freshwater hoplonemertean Prostoma graecense (Böhmig) in Tasmania

“…These two species are remarkably similar and, with further investigation, may even prove to be identical. Stiasny-Wijnhoff (1937) lists twelve distinguishing characters, but Correa (1951Correa ( , 1967 The number of proboscis nerves has been generally reported as nine for P. eilhardi, ten for P. graecense, but this character is variable and can be the same for both. It was for this reason that Reisinger (1926) united all European Prostoma under the single species graecense.…”

“…In preserved specimens the absence of sensory spines and calcareous granules cannot be regarded as taxonomically important. The sensory spines are often exceptionally diflicult to find even in living material, and calcareous granules may or may not be present depending upon the physiological state of the animals, and are aflected by a number of fixatives (Bohmig, 1929;Correa, 1951). This means that the only acceptable distinguishing features that can be relied upon are the nature of the oesophagus and the degree of development of the rhynchodaeal musculature.…”

“…Of the eight currently recognized species (Gibson & Young, 1971), two, P. eilhardi (Montgomery) and P. graecense (Bohmig), have an extensive distribution, although taxonomic difficulties prevent all the records relating to these two species from being accepted as confirmed. Both species have been reported from Europe and Africa, with P. eilhardi in addition occurring in South America (Stiasny-Wijnhoff, 1938;Gontcharoff & Deroux, 1949;Correa, 1951Correa, , 1967. Records of freshwater nemerteans from Australia are extremely limited and, according to Williams (1968), none has been reported outside Queensland.…”

The freshwater ribbon-worm Prostoma graecense (Hoplonemertea: Monostilifera) in South America (Argentina)

“…However, while it was identified from North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand (Gibson & Moore 1976, 1978Crandall et al 2002;Gibson 2002), its presence in South America has not been factually established. Corrêa (1951) has mentioned it as inhabiting South America, but her statement was only based on the opinion that the nemerteans found in Venezuela by Cordero (1943) were Prostoma graecense, although that author had described and identified his material as P. asensoriatum (Montgomery, 1896). At present, the latter species is not considered a synonym of Prostoma graecense (Gibson & Moore 1976), and recent studies even show that P. asensoriatum may not be a member of the pale yellow whereas larger ones were orange-brown with small darker spots.…”