Setosabatieria jingjingae, Tchesunov & Mokievsky, 2005

Tchesunov, Alexei V. & Mokievsky, Vadim O., 2005, Three new species of free-living nematodes from the Bohai Sea, China, Journal of Natural History 35 (11), pp. 1575-1586 : 1576-1578

Setosabatieria jingjingae sp.nov

(fi gures 1, 2c)

Type material

Holotype: one male ( Station D 3 ); paratype three males ( Stations D3, G 3, G 5 ) and four females (Station A1, D3, G 2).

Type locality. Sublittoral in the Bohai Sea : A1: 37 ° 59.56 ' N, 121 ° 35.04 ' E, wa ter depth 20.5 m, silt with M D 0.0233 mm. G 5: 39 ° 00.24 ' ’N, 121 ° 00.06 ' E, wa ter depth 38.5 m, silt with M D 0.0072 mm. D 3: 38 ° 15.43 ' N, 119 ° 44.14 ' E, wa ter depth 24.3 m, silt with M D 0.0122 mm. G 2: 38 ° 59.96 ' N, 119 ° 29.84 ' E, water depth 26.5 m, clay with M D 0.0029 mm. G 3: 39 ° 00.08 ' N, 120 ° 00.26 ' E, water depth 21.6 m, silt with MD 0.0241 mm.

Etymology Setosabatieria jingjingae is named after the daughter of the fi rst author.

Measurements ( table 1 )

- 175 M 1465 Holotype male 1: 1620 µ m; a =29, b =9, c=10, Sc =44 13 50 56 38

- 208 V 1660 Paratype female 1: 1830 µ m; a =30, b =9, c =11, V =53% 14 53 62 38

Description

Body cylindrical, tapering toward extremeties. Head slightly set off by narrow neck region. Cuticle not punctate but marked with faint transverse striations indiscernible in the lateral fi elds. Buccal cavity cup-shaped, surrounded by six short cephalic setae, 1.5–2 µ m, and four long submedian cephalic setae, 8–10 µ m. Four sublateral rows of fi ve to eight cervical setae of similar length to submedian cephalic setae. Other somatic setae shorter and more scattered. Amphids 3.5 turns, 8–11 µ m wide. Oesophagus with gradual pear-shaped swelling at base, not forming a true bulb. N erve ring 100–124 µ m behind anterior end (54–59% of oesoph ageal length). Excretory pore 113–135 µ m (56–65% of oesoph ageal length). Tail 3.6–5.2 a.b.d. conico-cylindrical with three terminal setae 11–13 µ m.

Males. Spicules paired, equal, arcuate, 39–47 µ m (1.03–1.62 a.b.d.) long as chord, pointed distally, with characteristic central cuticularized strip about 26–35 µ m long. Gubernaculum bearing long dorso-caudally directed apophyses about 15 µ m long. Nine poorly developed tubular precloacal supplements, posterior supplements with closer spacing. The posteriormost situated about 10 µ m anterior to the cloaca. There is a triangular cuticular extension on either side of the cloaca.

Females. Two outstretched ovaries, vulva at 43–56% of total length. Female differs from the male in having slightly longer tail (3.9–5.2 a.b.d.) and fewer subventral setae on the tail.

Differential diagnosis

Setosabatieria was fi rst erected to accommodate two Sabatieria species possessing synapomorphic features warranting recognition as a separate genus, namely the lack of cuticular punctations and the presence of characteristic sublateral fi les of numerous long cervical setae. The other two species of Setosabatieria so far included are S. hilarula (De Man, 1922) and S. fi bulata ( Wieser, 1954). All three species in this genus differ from one another in a combination of the number of amphid turns, the number of cervical setae, the number of pre-cloacal supplements and the structure of the spicules. Setosabatieria hilarula , recorded in south-west England, north-west England, Denmark and the West coast of Scotland, has a wide range of numbers of cervical setae (3–21 per fi le). The number per fi le in S. jingjingae sp. nov. is also variable (fi ve to eight), and so may not be a reliable or stable distinguishing character between species. S. jingjingae sp. nov. and S. fi bulata differ in the number of amphid turns (4.25 in S. fi bulata) and S. fi bulata is characterized by a tail with short cylindrical part, 3–3.3 anal diameters long, with slender terminal setae. Setosabatieria jingjingae sp. nov. is closest to S. hilarula in the number of amphid turns, the De Man ratio ‘a’, the number of cervical setae and the tail length measured in corresponding anal diameters. The main difference between them is in the structure of the spicules and the number of precloacal supplements. There are central strips longer than half of the spicule in S. jingjingae sp. nov. (58–67% of the spicule length measured as the arc). There are nine precloacal supplements in S. jingjingae sp. nov. and 11–16 in S. hilarula ( table 2 and fi gure 2).