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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Cernosvitoviella

Cernosvitoviella Nielsen & Christensen, 1959 (ref. ID; 1257)

Family Enchytraeidae (ref. ID; 1257, 6651, 6653, 7854)

ref. ID; 7765

Three morphologically similar species belonging to the genus Cernosvitoviella (C. atrata, C. microtheca and C. ampullax) were found in the Alpine lakes. They belong to a group of species characterized by a funnel-shaped sperm funnel, a lack of seminal vesicles, and the presence of spherical and spindle-shaped coelomocyes in the coelom cavity. They differ in the size and shape of the spermathecae. Nielsen & Christensen (1959) noticed that there are considerable variations in C. atrata. Besides normal specimens, there are also small ones with short spermathecae, and others (collected in the Pennine Mountains, Great Britain) in which the spermatheca reaches the VII segment. These authors suggested that such atypical specimens are two new species. C. microtheca, described recently by Rota & Healy (1999) in Sweden (swamp and lake shores), seems to correspond to the small specimens with short spermathecae mentioned by Nielsen & Christensen (1959). Nevertheless, the new species differs from C. atrata through its feature of a widened distal part of the sperm funnel duct, a characteristic not noted by Nielsen & Christensen (1959). Specimens of C. atrata with elongated spermathecae are similar to C. ampullax, described from southern Norway (peat soil, frozen for half the year) by Klungland & Abrahamsen (1981). The spermathecal ampullae of C. ampullax reach the VIII segment, as observed in material from the Alps. C. microtheca and C. ampullax may have been lumped as C. atrata in the past, making it appear the most common and widely distributed species in the genus Cernosvitoviella. By using detailed diangosis, 3 species can easily be distinguished. (ref. ID; 7765)
  1. Cernosvitoviella ampullax (ref. ID; 7765)
  2. Cernosvitoviella aggtelekiensis (ref. ID; 7765)
  3. Cernosvitoviella atrata (Bretscher, 1903) (ref. ID; 1257)
  4. Cernosvitoviella bertae (ref. ID; 6033)
  5. Cernosvitoviella goodhui Healy, 1975 (ref. ID; 6653)
  6. Cernosvitoviella immota (Knoll) (ref. ID; 6609) or (Knollner, 1935) (ref. ID; 6653)
  7. Cernosvitoviella microtheca Rota & Healy, 1999 (ref. ID; 6653, 7765)
  8. Cernosvitoviella minor Dozsa-Farkas, 1990 (ref. ID; 6653)
  9. Cernosvitoviella palustris Healy, 1979 (ref. ID; 6621)
  10. Cernosvitoviella parviseta (ref. ID; 7765)
  11. Cernosvitoviella pensau Timm, 1994 (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  12. Cernosvitoviella pusilla (ref. ID; 5971)
  13. Cernosvitoviella tatrensis (Kowalewski, 1916) (ref. ID; 6621) reported year? (ref. ID; 4491)