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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Cirrodrilus

Cirrodrilus Pierantoni, 1905 (ref. ID; 1923, 6579)

Family Branchiobdellidae (ref. ID; 6451, 7854)

ref. ID; 1923

Without setae; with posterior sucker; pharynx with dorsal and ventral chitinous jaws; commensal on crayfish. With two pairs of testes in segments 5 and 6. Body with appendages. Appendages in the form of pointed bands encircling the dorsal surface of the body. (ref. ID; 1923)
  1. Cirrodrilus aequiannulus (Liu, 1984) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  2. Cirrodrilus anodontus (Liu, 1964) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  3. Cirrodrilus aomorensis (Yamaguchi, 1934) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  4. Cirrodrilus breviformis (Liu & Zhang, 1964) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  5. Cirrodrilus chosen (Yamaguchi, 1934) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  6. Cirrodrilus cirratus Pierantoni, 1905 (ref. ID; 6579, 6651, 7854)
    Syn; Ceratodrilus cirratus Yamaguchi, 1932 (ref. ID; 6579); Petrodrilus Kawamura, 1918 (ref. ID; 6579); Stephanodrilus (Ceratodrilus) cirratus Yamaguchi, 1934, 1935 (ref. ID; 6579)
  7. Cirrodrilus ezoensis (Yamaguchi, 1934) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  8. Cirrodrilus fimbriatus Timm, 1991 (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  9. Cirrodrilus heteroglandularis (Liu, 1964) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  10. Cirrodrilus homodontus (Yamaguchi, 1932) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  11. Cirrodrilus inukaii (Yamaguchi, 1934) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  12. Cirrodrilus japonicus (Pierantoni, 1912) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  13. Cirrodrilus kawamurai (Yamaguchi, 1934) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854) reported author and year? (ref. ID; 6451)
  14. Cirrodrilus liaoningensis (Liu & Ch., 1964) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  15. Cirrodrilus makinoi (Yamaguchi, 1934) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  16. Cirrodrilus megalodentatus (Yamaguchi, 1934) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  17. Cirrodrilus minimus (Liu, 1964) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  18. Cirrodrilus nipponicus (Yamaguchi, 1932) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  19. Cirrodrilus peristomialis (Liu, 1964) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  20. Cirrodrilus pugnax Timm, 1991 (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  21. Cirrodrilus quadritentacularis (Liu, 1984) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  22. Cirrodrilus sapporensis (Pierantoni, 1906) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  23. Cirrodrilus suzukii (Yamaguchi, 1934) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  24. Cirrodrilus uchidai (Yamaguchi, 1932) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)

Cirrodrilus cirratus Pierantoni, 1905 (ref. ID; 6579, 6651, 7854)

Synonym

Ceratodrilus cirratus Yamaguchi, 1932 (ref. ID; 6579); Petrodrilus Kawamura, 1918 (ref. ID; 6579); Stephanodrilus (Ceratodrilus) cirratus Yamaguchi, 1934, 1935 (ref. ID; 6579)

Diagnosis

Two supra-oral papillae and 8 digitiform appendages on the lamellar ridges of trunk segments 3 to 8. (ref. ID; 6579)

Descriptions

Body terete; fixed, mature specimens 1.9 to 3.0 mm long, 0.2 to 0.3 mm wide; single juvenile 1.5 mm long, 0.12 mm wide. Peristomium: funnel-shaped, 7 tentacles on dorsal lip; median short, first pair long, second pair short, third pair long; 3 pair short, lateral tentacles; thick ventral lip with median fissure. Sixteen oral papillae, dorsal shorter, less distinct, merge with 2 supra-oral papillae. Jaws similar, with large median tooth, 4 pairs small teeth across anterior margin (4-1-4/4-1-4). Two pharyngeal sulci. Head wider than thank segment 1, equivalent to posterior adhesive organ. Major annuli in trunk segments 2 to 8 raised into lamellar ridges by supernumerary muscles; 8 digitiforms appendages on each ridge of segment 7 to 12. Anterior nephridial pores on trunk segment 3, separated by 6 digitiform appendages. Spermatheca: spermathecal bulb, median and spermathecal ducts and duct opening ventrad in trunk segment 5. Male genitalia: 1 pair testes in both trunk segment 5 and 6; 2 pair of vasa efferentia, 1 pair of vasa deferetia entering sacculate, spermiducal gland ectally; ejaculatory duct, and protrusible penis present trunk segment 6. (ref. ID; 6579)

Remarks

Specimens of Cirrodrilus spp. collected by Yamaguchi from Japan were found in a museum jar (v.11962) labelled Ceratodrilus cirratus. It is most likely that these 4 specimens, 3 mature and 1 juvenile, were part of the material he collected for use in his studies (Yamaguchi 1932, 1934). In the first of these, Yamaguchi (1932) offered an explanation why Pierantoni's (1905) description of poorly preserved material of Cirrodrilus cirratus differed from his own. 1. the conical peristomium and inflated oral region were due to a fixation artifact. 2. the ventral location of the dorsal appendages as drawn by Pierantoni was the result of the body being twisted in trunk segment 1. 3. twelve peristomial tentacles were drawn by Pierantoni, one was probably damaged and lost. Yamaguchi (1932) proceeded to describe in detail the external anatomy of the conspecific material to produced the first useable description of this species. He also transferred Cirrodrilus cirratus into the American genus Ceratodrilus Hall, 1914, because both species and had dorsal appendages. Yamaguchi (1934) recognized that Ceratodrilus and Stephanodrilus (Pieratoni, 1906) were congeneric and so he emended the name to Stephanodrilus (Ceratodrilus) cirratus. Thus he ignored the rule of priority twice. Goodnight (1940) corrected the situation by reinstating the name Cirrodrilus over Ceratodrilus and recognized Stephanodrilus as a separate entity. This history was critically reviewed (Holt 1960) and then Holt (1967) transferred the American Stephanodrilus obscurus into a new genus, Magmatodrilus. In the 1967 paper he said "For the present, basing the position on Yamaguchi's descriptions, figures, and some Japanese material that he very kindly gave me a few years ago, I accept his decision as to the generic unity of his Japanese worms. The correct name of the genus, then, must be Cirrodrilus Pierantoni, 1905, and not Stephanodrilus Pierantoni 1906". Stephanodrilus continues to be used by some workers (Liu 1984; Liu & Zhang 1983), while Subchev (1986), having cited Holts's paper uses Cirrodrilus. In spite of the poor state of preservation of the specimens of C. cirratus and the distored external features reported by Pierantoni (1905), Yamaguchi (1932, 1934) believed that some of his freshly collected material was conspecific. In addition, Yamaguchi (1932) described a new species, C. uchidai, which had many external anatomical features in common with C. cirratus. This work was extended in his monograph when Yamaguchi (1934) noted and illustrated 5 other C. uchidai-like branchiobdellids. This additional material was not supported by any detailed descriptions and should be ignored until a full study can be performed on fresh material from the type-localities. The external characteristics used to separate C. cirratus from C. uchidai may well prove to be within the range of intra-specific variation. However, as the two species have been in the literature for over 50 years and the material available to the author is limited, it is suggested that they remaine, at least for the present, as separate species. Whether Cirrodrilus and Stephanodrilus are congeneric or separate genera, C. cirratus is the type species of at least the former genus. However, in spite of the importance of the spermatheca and male genitalia in taxonomy, these organs in C. cirratus have not been illustrated or described directly, but noted as being similar to those of S. inukaii (Yamaguchi, 1934). The one exception was his observation that the spermiducal gland in C. cirratus was a "large bulged sac". A full description of these organs and histochemical information is given of C. cirratus and supplemented from the specimen of C. uchidai. The spermatheca is located in trunk segment 5 on the left side of the intestine and consists of a spermathecal bulb, median and spermathecal ducts. The elongate, spermathecal bulb has a squamosal epithelium which thickens as it merges into the median duct wall. A constriction, sometimes appearing papilla-like, separates the median and spermathecal ducts. In the specimen of C. cirratus the spermathecal bulb is sacculate and filled with sperm. The spermathecal duct is ovoid and expanded, with the internal epithelium forming longitudinal folds. The ectal end of the expansion narrows and passes ventrally under the intestine to open externally. A layer of circular muscle fibers surrounds the organ and the internal surface has a cuticle-like lining except for the spermathecal bulb. The male genitalia consist of 2 pairs of testes; 1 pairs is located each of trunk segment 5 and 6. A pair of sperm funnels are located in the postero-ventral region of trunk segment 5. The vas efferens from the right funnel passes ventrally under the nerve cord then both pass through the septum and join to form a vas deferens. The duct lies along the right side of the spermiducal gland before entering its ectal region. The funnels and short, vasa efferentia located in the postero-ventral region of trunk segment 6 join to form the vas deferens which passes along the left side of the spermiducal gland and enters the gland ectally. The spermiducal gland is located on the left side of the intestine; it is a large, oval sac lined with a thick layer of gland cells forming an irregular lumen. The ental end of the gland is in the antero-ventral portion of the segment and then extends towards the postero-dorsal region where its narrow, tubular, ectal extremity bends ventrally to open into the ejaculatory duct. The narrow ejaculatory duct is surrounded by circular muscles and passes ventrally under the intestines. The ejaculatory duct ends in the penis which is surrounded by the atrium of the muscular bursa. Lateral, epidermal glandular areas located on trunk segment 8 and 9. Each glandular area consists of 15 to 30 pyriform cells. The cell bodies are located subepidermally but external to the longitudinal muscle layer and are surrounded by a membrane. The secretion granules are approximately 1.3 µm in diameter, stain strongly with the PAS reaction and pack the ectal regions of the cells and their respective ducts. These glandular areas are present in C. cirratus but their precise location could not be established and so they were omitted from the description. The stomach and intestine are lined by a ciliated epithelium. Scattered throughout the intestinal wall are cells which contain basic protein granules (staining MBB or eosin Y positive). Some of these cells have the granules located in the ental half of the cell and those with slightly smaller granules have them located in the ectal half of the cell. Some of the chloragogen cells surrounding the stomach contain PAS or MBB-staining granules, 1.5 µm in diameter, while most of these cells along the intestine contain such granules. (ref. ID; 6579)

Host

Cambaroides japonicus (= Astacus japonicus) (de Haan). (ref. ID; 6579)

Type locality

Japan. (ref. ID; 6579)

Type materials

Several poorly preserved specimens from the Museum de Histoire Naturelle de Paris. These were deposited in the Hamburg Museum (Pierantoni 1905) and destroyed in 1943. Jar v.2911 which presumably had contained some of Pierantoni's additional specimens was empty when examined by the author. (ref. ID; 6579)

Additional materials

Presumably placed in the Hamburg Museum by Yamaguchi. Jar v.11962 contains one adult and one juvenile specimen and a serial, longitudinally sectioned specimen has been deposited at the Museum. (ref. ID; 6579)