Turbellarian taxonomic database

Aphanostoma elegans Notes


Jensen OS 1878 (citation)- describes new species p 25-26.  Definition in Latin, illustration
	Plate I figures 9-11.
	 
Graff L v 1882 (citation)- lists and describes.  Also lists Aphanostoma rhomboides. as
	separate speceis- description of both.
	
Gamble FW 1893 (citation)- A colorless form - on Ulva at Redding Point- Northern Europe.
Bohmig L 1895 (citation)- in list p 44.
Graff L v 1905 (citation)- mentions - also illustrates and long description of Aphanostoma rhomboides.
Dorjes J 1968 (citation)- lists this as separate species- description of both.

Jensen OS 1878 (citation)- Translation of latin and danish text using Google Translate:  
Body length 0.81 mm., maximum width o.16 mm., both ends rounded, in wider at the front, gradually 
narrower at the back. Color: In the middle of the body, a distinct area, large, dark-green, the rest 
of the body without color. Spermatozoa filiform with no head, spiral in the middle.
The dark green part I once saw of a fairly regular, radially lobed form. It stands out strongly by its 
deep color. Otherwise the body has the usual clear light blue appearance of the tissues; only in the 
anterior half is there a faint white tinge. I have only incompletely observed the anatomical structure 
of the animal. Examinations of the Aphanostomum species are also very long and difficult. The delicate 
animals must be protected from too strong pressure from the cover glass, preferably by a blood feather 
ray and compressed by capillary adhesion: by the elasticity of the feather ray the pressure can be 
moderated in the most various ways. In front of the otolith tract I have seen oval rod sacs, filled 
with rods. The ovaries are as usual in the genus Aphanostomum; they shine through as a white spot 
just behind the dark green part (Fig. 9. b). The seminal vesicle (Fig. 10) is deeply cleft or perhaps 
rather double; it is continued in a wide passage across towards the genital opening. The spermatic 
cords (Fig. 11) are in their anterior part stepped, thin at the most anterior end, yet not tapered 
and slightly increasing in thickness backwards; in the middle part they are (as I must conclude from 
the refraction of light) bow-shaped and twisted corkscrew-like in a spiral; they end in a long thin 
tail.
I found sexually mature individuals of this animal in September, together with the previous ones.

Graff L v 1905 (citation)- Discusses Aphanostoma rhomboides and says that A. elegans is conspecific. 
Translation from german using Google Translate:  "Aphanostoma rhomboides (Jens.) Pl. XI, Figs. 11-20.
An extremely common form both near Bergen (Puddefjord to Solheimsvik, Follesö on Askö) and near 
Alexandrovsk (Yekaterinhafen, Pala Guba). Through the examination of numerous specimens, I have come 
to the conclusion that the minor differences, mostly merely concerning shape and color, which are supposed 
to separate this species from Jensen's Aphanostoma elegans, are due to greater or lesser amounts of 
pigment, contraction conditions, and the nature of the diet, while young specimens resemble 
Mecynostomum agile, established by the same author. Even more than from my preliminary report, 
the correctness of my interpretation will be demonstrated by comparing the illustrations."

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