Turbellarian taxonomic database
Philactinoposthia coneyi Notes
Hooge M.D. & Rocha C.E.F. 2006 (citation) - p. 5, "The family Actinoposthiidae was erected by Hooge (2001) as means of separating the ~30 species with typical body-wall muscle layering from species of Childia (Childiidae), which have reversed body-wall muscle layering (longitudinal fibers positioned outside of circular fibers). The Actinoposthiidae includes species that have either a sclerotized or muscular penis that is not invaginated into a seminal vesicle. Unfortunately, the family and several of its genera appear to be polyphyletic and the distinctive characters have yet to be identified. The genus Philactinoposthia is particularly problematic because it contains some species with sclerotized penes and others with muscular penes, despite the unlikelihood that these structures are homologous. We place our new species in the genus Philactinoposthia because of its strong similarity to P. viridorhabditis Dörjes, 1968, a species that shares with P. coneyi an unpaired ovary, a male copulatory organ with a muscular seminal vesicle and an uninvaginated cone-shaped penis. P. coneyi differs from P. viridorhabditis in having a more elongate body, a shorter, less-irregularly shaped penis surrounded by longitudinal muscle fibers, and a distinctive stack-of-hats shaped bursal nozzle."
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