Turbellarian taxonomic database

Abstract / Notes

T. handschini was found in a museum jar containing specimens of the parastacid, Paracheraps quadricarinatus,
from Dutch New Guinea. The external and internal anatomy of both sexes is descr., in part reconstructed from
sections. Eggs of a larger sp. of temnocephalid were found attached to the appendages of the parastacid, and
in the same jar were specimens of a very small sp., thought to be T. rouxi. Specimens of T. novaezelandiae,
surrounded by their eggs, were found on the chelae of Paranephrops zelandicus in another jar. The
discontinuous geographical distr. of Temnocephalae and of their fresh water crustacean hosts is evidence for
the former existence of land bridges. Temnocephalae are commensals, feeding on small Crustacea and Rotifera,
and have remained such, without evolving into parasites, since at least the beginning of the Tertiary.

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