Turbellarian taxonomic database

Convolutidae Heterochaerus Diagnosis


Convolutidae oblong in shape, with caudal lappets; coloration and patter due to symbiotic algae and concrement
granules; rhabdoids, statocyst and statolith may be present; with eyes; brain insunk; frontal organ absent;
mouth ventral in mid-body; ovary and testes paired; male genital pore ventral in posterior third of body;
muscular penis surrounded by seminal vesicle; female genital pore anterior to male pore; female antrum ciliated;
bursa T-shaped and bilobed, each lobe with two or more tubular bursal canals; in mature specimens a copulatory 
canal (cf. Laurer's canal) may be present dorsally opening into female antrum.
Type species: Heterochaerus australis Haswell, 1905

[From Winsor L (1990): 794]


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