Turbellarian taxonomic database

Raphidophallus actuosus Notes

Kozloff EN 1965 (citation)- describes.  from Ulva at North Bay, San Juan Island, State of 
	Washington.
	
	- live 850 microns by 220 microns- flattened to cylindrical when swimming free
		active- fragile
		statocyst- end 1st 1/8th of body.  20 microns.
		diatoms in digestive parenchyma
		whiteish with color yellow greenish digestive parenchyma- bright white
			material near statocyst (refractile granules in outer parenchyma)
			
	- epidermis - cilia 8-9 microns long- stiff bristles scattered over body to 30 microns long.
		rhabdites in bundles tend to be in rows that merge and separate- are found in
		glands in outer parenchyma.
	
	- mouth- digestive parenchyma- thicker at anterior end- vacuoles ? in posterior end.
	- brain- 4 major ganglia- 2 anterior  and 2 posterior to statocyst with heavy commissures.
	- frontal gland- large almost fill anterior end around statocyst- pore at anterior end.
	- muscles- outer circular and inner longitudinal- also "parenchymal muscles".
	- testes and ovary- 1/2 length of body- from nearly to statocyst- testes dorsal and are 
		confluent in their anterior half.
	
	- one genital pore- near beginning of last 1/4 of body.
	- male and female antrum- in life has granules- in sections 'a vacuolated coagulum".
	- seminal vesicle- posterodorsal to atrium.  sperm ducts enter separately.  wall thin but
		muscular- sperm mass and next ot penis granules wich stain strongly with hematoxylin.
	
	- penis- arches from atrium to rear of seminal vesicle.  outer wall- longitudinal muscle
		and inner circular muscles.  Lumen has a number of separate and very delicate cuticular
		rods.
	
	- sperm- 110 microns long.
	- female vagina- extends anterodorsally from common antrum terminates with granules that
		can be seen in life.  this forms glandular cap between vagina and bursa.  
		
	New genus based on cuticularized rods of penis.
							

Dorjes J 1968 (citation)- lists this species under genus Convoluta.
Antonius A 1968 (citation)- moves this species to Conaptera.
Ehlers U, Doerjes J 1979 (citation)- comparisons p 10, 68.
Kozloff EN (2000) (citation)- reinstates the genus, with species Raphidophallus actuosa.
Hooge MD & Tyler S 2003 (citation) - We collected many specimens of Raphidophallus actuosus Kozloff, 1965 from surface mud in Bodega Harbor (38° 18' 42'' N, 123° 03' 40'' W). R. actuosus was originally described from San Juan Island, Washington, USA, where it was collected in small numbers from washings of Ulva taken from muddy sand or gravel. The general morphology of our specimens and the organization of the copulatory organ matches that of R. actuosus; however, in our squeeze preparations of live animals, and in our glutaraldehyde-fixed histological sections, we observed several aggregations of sclerotized needles surrounding the male copulatory organ (Figs. 7, 8). These needles were not present in specimens we fixed in Bouin’s fluid, suggesting that the needles dissolved. Kozloff’s (1965) original description of R. actuosus does not mention the presence of these flanking sclerotized needles, and we wonder if these structures were likewise dissolved in his Bouin’s-fixed specimens. In any case, these needles should not be confused with the sagittocyst needles observed in the extrusion apparatus of the Sagittiferidae (see Gschwentner et al. 1999, 2002).

Notes for the valid (accepted) taxonomic name

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