Sluiterina kaikourae
| Sluiterina kaikourae | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sluiterina kaikourae | ||||||||||||
| Edmonds , 1985 |
Sluiterina kaikourae is a representative of the hedgehog worms (Echiura) from the Bonelliidae family. It was first described in 1985 and very little is known about this hedgehog worm.
Morphological features
Sluiterina kaikourae has a cylindrical to cigarette-shaped body. The previous specimens were found to have lengths of 6 to 8.5 centimeters and a maximum diameter of 1.1 to 1.5 centimeters; an extremely small specimen was 1.1 centimeters long and 2.5 millimeters in diameter. The rear part of the body is rounded or slightly pointed. The center of the body of Sluiterina kaikourae is very smooth, but the rest of the skin is wrinkled. No ventral bristles were found in any specimen. The body of this hedgehog worm is thickened towards both ends. The color of specimens preserved in alcohol is a dark red-brown.
The prostomium is short, plump, fleshy, sticky, and slightly scoop-like. It was seven millimeters to 1.4 centimeters long in the specimens found and a maximum of eight millimeters wide at the base. The lateral edges are slightly concave, at the base of the prostomium it merges with the rest of the body, forming the shape of a flat cup.
The relatively long digestive tract of Sluiterina kaikourae is supported by numerous mesenteries. The intestinal tube is very long. A siphon is attached to the midgut for most of its length, and the feces are released in the form of pelets after passing through the digestive tract.
Female Sluiterina kaikourae (probably the only animals investigated so far) have a single gonoduct and a single nephridium , which in one specimen reached half the body length, but remained significantly shorter in other specimens. The two organs are not divided.
Locations
The holotype was found off Kaikoura at the location with the coordinates 44 ° 44.1 S 173 ° 57.95 E at a depth of 2152 to 2155 meters. There the animal was in a crack; two more specimens were found at the same location. Two other specimens were found on the same meridian, but at 40 ° 40 south latitude, and there in 1920-1928 meters also found in a crevice. The animals were found at the first location on December 17, 1982, and at the second location on December 16, 1982. The holotype preserved in alcohol is kept in the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, Australia.
Way of life
Practically nothing is known about the way of life. Sluiterina kaikourae , like all hedgehog worms, is hemisessil, more information about the general way of life of hedgehog worms can be found in the article Hedgehog worms .
Systematics
Investigations on the nephridium and another organ showed that Sluiterina kaikourae belong to the Bonnelidae family and not to the Echiuridae. Judging by the rough shape of the prostomium, Sluiterina kaikourae can be divided into the following genera:
- Prometor - a difference to Sluiterina kaikourae are about two nephridia instead of a single and ventral bristle.
- Charcotus - has only a regressed nephridium.
- Choanostemellia - the dorsal and ventral sides of the prostomium are slightly slit .
- Sluiterina
Ultimately, the species was placed in the genus Sluiterina .
literature
SJ Edmonds: A new echiuran Sluiterina kaikourae (Echiura: Bonelliidae), from New Zealand and a note on New Zealand echiurans . New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1985, Vol. 79: 601-604 [1]