Dugesia sicula

Dugesia sicula
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Order: Tricladida
Suborder: Continenticola
Family: Dugesiidae
Genus: Dugesia
Species: D. sicula
Binomial name
Dugesia sicula
Lepori, 1948

Dugesia sicula is a species of dugesiid triclad that lives in freshwater bodies of the Mediterranean Basin, where it is widely distributed. At least it has been reported from Sicily,[1] Elba and Mallorca,[2] Eivissa,[3] Sardinia,[4] Algeria,[5] Tunisia,[6] Morocco[7] and Crete.[8]

Morphology

D. sicula individuals have an asymmetrical penis papilla, with a diaphragm at the base, separating the seminal vesicle from the ejacultory duct. This duct is ventral and it opens subterminally. The seminal vesicle is wrapped by a thin layer of bulbar muscles. The penis papilla is weakly muscular and more parenchymatic.[8]

Reproduction

D. sicula is known to reproduce sexual and asexually.[1]

Phylogeny

D. sicula position in relation with other Dugesia species after the work of Lázaro et al., 2009:[9]

 Dugesia 


 D. sicula



 D. aethiopica







 D. japonica




 D. ryukyuensis




 D. notogaea



 D. bengalensis








 D. subtentaculata




 D. gonocephala




 D. liguriensis




 D. etrusca



 D. ilvana







 D. benazzii



 D. hepta






References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Lepori, N.G., 1948. Descrizione di Dugesia sicula, nuova sp. di Triclade d'acqua dolce dei dintorni di Catania. Arch. Zool. Ital. 33: 461–472
  2. Benazzi, M. (1961): "Les planaires des ïles tyrrhéniennes et leur differenciation raciale, cytologique et génétique". Le peuplement des ïles mediterranéennes et le problème de l'insularité, (ed. CNRS, Paris), pp. 103-112.
  3. Ribas M., Pala M., Vacca R. A., Riutort M., Baguñà J. "Taxonomical status of the Western Mediterranean asexual populations of the Dugesia (D) gonocephala group: Morphological, Karyological and Biochemical data". Fortschr. Zool. 36: 129-137 (1988)
  4. Stocchino et al., 2005 G.A. Stocchino, G. Corso, R. Manconi, S. Casu and M. Pala, "Endemic freshwater planarians of Sardinia: Redescription of Dugesia hepta (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) with a comparison of the Mediterranean species of the genus", Journal of Natural History 39 (2005), pp. 1947–1960.
  5. Vries, E D. J. (1988). A synopsis of the nominal species of the subgenus Dugesia (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Paludicola) from Africa and Madagascar. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 92, 345-382.
  6. Charni, M., Harrath, A. H., Sluys, R., Tekaya, S., and Zghal, F. (2004). "The freshwater planarian Dugesia sicula Lepori, 1948 (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) in Tunisia: ecology, karyology, and morphology". Hydrobiologia 517, 161-170.
  7. Stocchino, G A., Manconi R., Corso G., Sluys R., Casu S., & Pala M., 2009. "African planarians: morphology and karyology of Dugesia maghrebiana sp. n. (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) from Tunisia". Italian Journal of Zoology; 76(1): 83-91
  8. 8.0 8.1 De Vries, EJ, 1988. "On the identity and occurrence of Dugesia sicula and D. biblica (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Paludicola) in the Mediterranean region". Fortschritte der Zoologie 36: 405–411.
  9. Lazaro, E. M., Sluys, R., Pala, M., Stocchino, G. A., Baguna, J., & Riutort, M. (2009). "Molecular barcoding and phylogeography of sexual and asexual freshwater planarians of the genus Dugesia in the Western Mediterranean (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 52(3), 835-845.

External links

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