Main Content

The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Haber

Family Tubificidae (ref. ID; 6651)
  1. Haber amurensis (Sokolskaja & Hrabe, 1969) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)
  2. Haber hubsugulensis (Semernoj & Akinshina, 1980) (ref. ID; 7854)
  3. Haber monfalconensis (Hrabe, 1966) (ref. ID; 6618)
  4. Haber speciosus (Hrabe, 1931) (ref. ID; 6618) reported year? (ref. ID; 6609) reported author and year? (ref. ID; 7854)
  5. Haber turquini (Juget & Lafont, 1979) (ref. ID; 7854)
  6. Haber zavreli (Hrabe, 1942) (ref. ID; 6618)

Haber amurensis (Sokolskaja & Hrabe, 1969) (ref. ID; 6651, 7854)

Descriptions

Incomplete mature specimens (up to 54 segments without tail), at least 23 mm long, 0.5 mm wide in VIII and 0.6-0.7 mm in clitellum when mounted under a cover glass. Several intact juveniles 6-14 mm long, 0.2-0.4 mm wide, and with 45-105 segments. Prostomium oval or roundish, intersegmental furrows distinct, segments prolonged; II-VII can bear short anterior ring. Tail portion often spirally wound. Body wall smooth and transparent. Mature individuals bear clitellum in XI-XII; spermathecal pores in X, male pores in XI, both paired but close to ventral median line. Bifid, pectinate, hair and genital chaetae present. Anteclitellar ventral bifids (2)4-6 per bundle and 47-100 µm long (shortest in II), with teeth of equal length or with upper tooth slightly longer but always thinner. Anteclitellar pectinates 1-7 per bundle and 30-90 µm long, with ordinary teeth often bent to each other, and delicate plate formed by intermediate teeth. Hair chaetae by 1-6, 120-570 µm long, apparently smooth (or finely hispid when observed with an immersion objective). In postclitellar ventral bundles mostly 2 bifids with equal teeth, while dorsal bundles contain one pectinate and one short hair chaeta. Four genital chaetae (one at each spermathecal and male pore) all alike, 80-100 µm long, sharp-tiped, with a groove on their shorter distal portion and with both ends bent. Pharynx in III, pharyngeal glands reaching V. Chloragogen tissue on oesophagus beginning from VI; intestinal dilatation in VIII, gradual. Scarce vermiform unicellular parasites were observed in midgut. Transversal blood vessels short, in VIII and IX dilated as "hearts". In some mounted specimens, intestinal blood sinus was partially crumbled into drops of different size floating in coelome. No true coelomocytes. In one sectioned specimen, a dense mass of nephridial tissue was observed embracing nerve cord in VI, VII, and IX. Testes in X, ovaria in XI, egg sacs with ripe eggs reach at least XIII. One abnormal (female) individual had ovaria and egg sacs only, but no male organs spermathecae. Male funnels at 10/11 of various shape but 135-200 µm high with either the upper or the lateral edge longer; their epithelium 10-20 µm thick, weakly ciliated. Vasa deferentia about 5000 µm long. Their proximal portion proceeding directly backwards, only 14-23 µm wide; the longer distal part, forming loops in egg sac, wider, 24-40 µm (mostly 32 µm). Their wall 9-11 µm thick, decreasing to 5 µm immediately before the transition of duct into atrium. Internal ciliation lacking in the distal portion but not reliably observed in the proximal portion. Atria spindle-shaped, bent, with their proximal ends in egg sac. They are about 400 µm long, and up to 56-140 µm wide in the middle portion. Wall is formed of a layer of internally folded glandular epithelium, the muscle layer begin imperceptible. Lumen 2-11 µm wide, containing slime. The distal end of atria turns downward, falling into penis. Short-stalked, compact, dense prostatic gland, partially embracing atrium and sometimes bulging the egg sac, discharges into the proximal third of atria from their concave side. Penial sacs 140-180 µm high and 105-160 µm wide. Their upper wall forms large penial bulb consisting of glandular epithelium, up to 80 µm high and 110 µm wide, with 15-16 µm thick central ejaculatory canal. Ectal muscle layer of bulb measures about 6 µm. The distal portion of sac has about 13 µm thick muscular wall. Penis s.s. attached to bulb is stick-shaped, about 50 µm long and 20-37 µm thick, tapering to its distal end which reaches the male pore. Male pores on the ventral side of XI are open, 37-75 µm wide. The distal end of penial chaeta stretches into penial sac from the back or median side, on small papilla surrounded by its own small sac. Most part of chaeta is surrounded by two-part glandular (but surrounded by muscle layer) follicle, about 145 µm long. The proximal portion of follicle is vertical, bolt-shaped and about 19 µm thick, while the distal part is roundish and measures 45 µm. Penical chaeta lies at an obtuse angle to the follicle's vertical part. Female funnels at 11/12, with upper lip 35 µm and lower lip 58 µm long, both 13-20 µm thick. Spermathecae attached in X, stretching backwards into XI, or even XII, up to 1000-1200 µm long. Ampulla with epithelial wall, bipartite. The bigger proximal portion 170-335 µm wide, with high internal papillae arranged in transversal rows. The distal portion separated by shallow groove, 75-210 µm wide, its 6-14 µm thick wall with internal tubercles only, in place of high papillae. 2-7 rather strict nematoid spermatozeugmata, 720-780 µm long and 25-27 µm wide, can occur in each ampulla. Ampulla changes gradually into short (about 190 µm long) epithelial duct tapering to 16 µm and opening onto small papilla on the ventral side of X. Papilla is externally surrounded by a small pit resembling penial sac. Another papilla with the tip of spermathecal chaeta extends either into the same pit, or into separate small sac close by. The end of spermathecal duct perforates a glandular bulge of body wall, up to 137 µm long and 58 µm high. Spermathecal chaeta has glandular, bipartite follicle like penial chaeta but the shape of both halves can be more variable. (ref. ID; 7854)

Remarks

The species was first described as Tubifex sp. from a floodplain lake of the middle Amur River by Sokol'skaja (1961) after one mature and some juvenile specimens. Penial sacs were misinterpreted as atria on the single half-damaged series of sections by this author, and yolk granules were treated as coelomocytes. Hrabe (1969) redescribed the same slide, correcting the above-mentioned errors and coining the species name Tubifex amurensis. Nobody else has met the species so far. Holmquist (1978) defined the genus Haber, and thereupon (Holmquist 1979) supposed T. amurensis to be a possible member of this genus. Brinkhurst (1981) formally introduced the present combination Haber amurensis. Milligan (1986), when revising the genus, considered only tentatively the poorly known H. amurensis as a distinct species. He noted that the location of the spermathecal pore in line with ventral chaetae (like in several other congeners) was the only definitive character to distinguish it from H. speciosus. The new material from Ussurijsk differs from the original description only by hair chaetae being almost smooth (distinctly plumose according to Sokol'skaja (1961). The structure of the male duct was cleared up (very long bipartite vas deferens, bent spindle-shaped atrium without any ejaculatory duct, penis with a large proximal bulb and thin distal portion without any kind of sheath or thick cuticular lining) and found to be different enough for separating from all other known congeners. The ciliation of the narrow proximal portion of vas deferens, characteristic of the genus, was not positively seen but cannot be denied, either. The distiguished, separate ectal portion of the spermathecal ampulla can be interpreted also as a dilated portion of the spermathecal duct. The presence of similar genital chaetae at both spermathecal and male pores, a unique generic character of Haber among the Tubificinae, is much better expressed in the new material than in the original specimen devoid of ventral chaetae in X. H. amurensis differs from the other species of the genus Haber as revised by Milligan (1986), by having thin soft penis attached to a large bulb, and in most cases also by different shape of the locomotory chaetae. Symmetrical pectinate chaetae occur, besides H. amurensis, also in H. turquini (Juget & Lafont, 1979) and in H. hubsugulensis (Semernoj & Akinshina, 1980); however, these species reveal ventral chaetae with considerably longer upper tooth even in the posterior segments. H. turquini has also a penial sheath, according to Juget and Lafont (1979). The geographically nearest congener H. hubsugulensis from Mongolia has reproductive organs most similar to those of H. amurensis but a thick conical penis devoid of any separate bulb (Semernoj & Akinshina 1980). Immature individuals of H. amurensis can be easily confused with Rhyacodrilus suputensis in the River Razdol'naja due to their external appearance and the shape of pectinate chaetae. The presence of coelomocytes in the latter species can serve as a distingushing character in this case. The new finding expands the distribution range of H. amurensis, but only within the limits of the same Amur-Japanese freshwater zoogeographic Subregion. (ref. ID; 7854)

Examined materials

54 specimens from 7 samples in the rivers of Razdol'naja, Rakovka, and Komarovka. Four of them sectioned. (ref. ID; 7854)