Microplana nana Mateos, Giribet and Carranza 1998
Creators: name: Vila-Farré, Miquel
name: Sluys, Ronald
name: Mateos, Eduardo
name: Jones, Hugh D.
name: Romero, Rafael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Platyhelminthes
Tricladida
Geoplanidae
Microplana
Microplana nana

description: Microplana nana Mateos, Giribet and Carranza, 1998   
(Figures 1, 7, Table 1)  
 Material examined   
 Holotype. NHML 1998.2.9.1, sagittal sections of one specimen on three slides (labelled LA 2.1, 2.2, 2.3).   
 Paratype. NHML 1998.2.9.2, sagittal sections of one specimen on two slides (labelled LA1.1, 1.2). For further details see Mateos et al. (1998).   
 Description   
For details of external features, epidermis, musculature, nervous system and alimentary system, see Mateos et al. (1998).  
Testes as described by Mateos et al. (1998), discharge into sperm ducts (vasa deferentia), which run posteriorly to copulatory apparatus. Sperm ducts not readily discernable in sections but must be very narrow. (Duct labelled “D” on fig. 5 of Mateos et al. 1998, is ovovitelline duct, not sperm duct.) Anterior to copulatory apparatus, each sperm duct expands to about 40 µm in diameter and forms a sperm storage structure (spermiducal vesicle) on either side. They then narrow (duct is occluded but visible over most of its length, but appears to be about 2.5 µm in diameter) and separately enter penis bulb. Penis with basal diameter about 170–200 µm and total (retracted) length about 450 µm. In both specimens, the distal end, about 150 µm, is reflected with diameter about 40 µm. Sperm ducts discharge separately but close together into anterior end of ejaculatory duct. Ejaculatory duct eccentric, in ventral half of penis, maximum diameter about 50 µm, lined with tall columnar cells, about 5 µm diameter in distal, reflected, portion.  
Ovaries, oviducts and vitellaria as described by Mateos et al. (1998). Oviducts extend posterior to penis and converge to separately join posterior extremity of female genital duct. Duct short, about 50 µm long and Y-shaped. Base of Y opens into posterior of atrium, each upper arm of the Y receiving one ovovitelline duct. Narrow genito-intestinal duct (Figure 7) runs dorsally from female genital duct to branch of intestine. Many eosinophilic glands, presumably “shell gland” secreting the cocoon material, surround region around female genital duct.  
 Discussion   
The type material has been re-examined because details of the copulatory apparatus differ from the description and diagram given by Mateos et al. (1998: fig. 2) and accordingly the species is partially re-described above, as far as is necessary to correct the details.  
The differences between the description of Mateos et al. (1998) and the present description are as follows. First, the sperm ducts enter the penis separately and remain separate in the base of the penis until they discharge separately into the ejaculatory duct. They are shown in fig. 2 of Mateos et al. (1998) fusing before entering the penis bulb and discharging into the ejaculatory duct as a single duct. Second, the female genital duct is about 50 µm long, whereas it is shown as about 300 µm long in fig. 2 of Mateos et al. (1998). Third, there is a genito-intestinal duct running dorsally from the female genital duct. This was stated to be absent by Mateos et al. (1998).
description: Published as part of Vila-Farré, Miquel, Sluys, Ronald, Mateos, Eduardo, Jones, Hugh D. & Romero, Rafael, 2011, Land planarians (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Geoplanidae) from the Iberian Peninsula: new records and description of two new species, with a discussion on ecology, pp. 869-891 in Journal of Natural History 45 (15 - 16) on pages 885-886, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2010.536267, http://zenodo.org/record/5203496