Goffartia heteroceri Hirschmann 1952
Creators: name: Tahseen, Qudsia
name: Mustaqim, Malka
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Nematoda
Secernentea
Diplogasterida
Diplogasteridae
Goffartia
Goffartia heteroceri

description: Goffartia heteroceri Hirschmann, 1952
(Figs. 1 C, 2B, 3C, 6)
Measurements. Table 1,
Description. Adult: Body medium- to large-sized, between 0.7–1 mm in length. Cuticle smooth under LM, without transverse and longitudinal striations. Lateral fields demarcated. Lip region low, rounded to dome-shaped; continuous with the adjoining body; lips fused; labial sensilla slightly raised. Amphidial apertures transversely oval, located at three-fourths of lip width from anterior end. Cheilostom long, cuticularised with diverging anterior and posterior ends; gymnostom and stegostom forming barrel-shaped buccal cavity; gymnostom arched; metastegostom without tooth; a single stomal ring partially proximally inserted into the pharynx. Pharyngeal collar almost one-fourth of stoma length, dorsally extending slightly into pharynx. Pharyngeal corpus muscular, median bulb strongly developed with ‘almond-shaped’ valve plates; anterior pharyngeal part equal to or longer than posterior part; basal bulb oval in shape, well demarcated from isthmus. Nerve ring not shown in the original illustration; secretory-excretory pore not discernible. Tail very long, narrowing into hair-like terminal part.
Female: Reproductive system didelphic, amphidelphic with both genital branches symmetrical and largely equal. Vulva pre-equatorial. Uteri occasionally with a pair of eggs.
Male: Similar to female in other morphological characters except being smaller. Reproductive system monorchic with a reflexed testis. Tail divided into an anterior conical part and an abruptly narrowing cylindrical part terminating in a whip. Genital papillae 9 pairs with two precloacal and seven postcloacal pairs with a configuration of v1 + v2 / v3 d, v4,ad, (v5 + v6, v7), pd. The genital pairs v1 + v2 are relatively close, subventral; v3 d at the level of cloaca, lateroventral; v4 subventral; ad lateral; v5 and v6 subventral closer than v7; pd subdorsal. Phasmids located between ad and v5. Spicules strong, falcate, about as long as cloacal body diameter, gubernaculum strong, trough-shaped with attenuated proximal end; about 40% of the spicule length. Tail long, filiform narrowing into hair-like terminal part.
Locality and habitat. Goffartia heteroceri has been reported from thermal spring (Meyl 1953, 1954) and potable water (Zullini 1981, 1982; Volterra et al. 1999; associated with Heterocerus Fabricius, 1792 beetles in littoral habitats. The species has been found in Europe (Germany, Hungary, Lithuania) and is widespread in Italy, especially in the central regions of the peninsula (Zullini,1982).
G. heteroceri lives phoretically on the heterocerid water beetles Heterocerus fenestratus Thunberg, 1784, H. fusculus Kiesenwetter, 1843 and H. marginatus Fabricius, 1787 and also colonizes Stenolophus teutonus Schrank, 1781 (Carabidae) and Paederus riparius Linnaeus, 1758 (Staphylinidae). The species is transported by the insect host to new aquatic habitats as the diapausing larvae overwinter in the host body between the folds of abdominal segments (Steffan 1967).
Salient characters. The species is characterised by smooth cuticle without transverse and longitudinal striations; lateral fields demarcated; lip region low, rounded to dome-shaped; labial sensilla slightly raised. Amphidial apertures transversely oval, about one-fourth of the corresponding body diameter, or about stoma width; stoma barrel-shaped, unarmed with single ring; pharyngeal corpus having thick lumen and strongly built median bulb; anterior pharyngeal part equal to or longer than posterior part; both genital branches of female gonad almost equal; males with cephalated, arcuate and falcate spicules; gubernaculum 40–50% of the spicule length, troughshaped with tapering proximal and distal ends and genital papillae v5 and v6 closely placed and slightly distant from v7.
description: Published as part of Tahseen, Qudsia & Mustaqim, Malka, 2015, A taxonomic review of the genus Goffartia Hirschmann, 1952 (Rhabditida: Diplogastridae) with a note on the relationship of congeners in Zootaxa 4034 (1), DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4034.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/240726