Searching for shelter in a ferruginous cave? A new species of Pasipha from a plateau in the Brazilian savanna (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida)

By

Leal-Zanchet, Ana Maria
Marques, Alessandro

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

776

Pages

13-25

Subjects

Geoplaninae , land planarians , Neotropical region , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.776.26308

 

Abstract

In a fauna survey in the eastern margin of Serra do Espinhaço Plateau, in an area belonging to the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado phytophysiognomy), a land flatworm was sampled in a ferruginous cave. Anatomical and histological analyses indicated that it belongs to a new species of the genusPasipha, which is herein described. The new species shows an almost homogenous dark brown dorsal pigmentation, eyes spreading over the dorsal surface, a collar-shaped pharynx, and a prostatic vesicle with two portions separated by a canal. It differs from similar species mainly by anatomical and histological details of the ejaculatory duct, as well as male and female atria. The flatworm shows no troglomorphic traits and was collected once in the entrance zone of the cave. Hence, despite representing the first land flatworm species described from a Neotropical cave, we consider that its occurrence in the cave is probably occasional, using it as a shelter.