Two new species of Lauratonema (Nematoda: Lauratonematidae) from the intertidal zone of the East China Sea

Abstract

Two new species of free-living marine nematodes of the genus Lauratonema Gerlach, 1953 from an intertidal sandy beach of the East China Sea are described and illustrated. Lauratonema macrostoma sp. nov. is characterized by a spacious buccal cavity, depth 2.1–2.3 times width; cup-shaped amphids; small blade-like spicules (14–16 µm long, 0.55–0.65 anal or cloacal body diameter [a.b.d.]) and unequal length of outer labial setae and cephalic setae (13–17 µm and 9–12 µm respectively). Lauratonema dongshanense sp. nov. can be distinguished by the small buccal cavity with a strong cuticularized transverse strip structure; cup-shaped amphids; small blade-like spicules (14–15 µm long, 0.58–0.67 a.b.d.), unequal length of outer labial setae and cephalic setae (8–10 µm and 5–7 µm respectively); the presence of a small precloacal papilla. A dichotomous key for the genus Lauratonema is given.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B5BA6C15-E72A-4C62-97B4-1823E71A9355

Keywords:

• free-living marine nematode
• Lauratonema macrostoma sp. nov.
• Lauratonema dongshanense sp. nov.
• East China Sea
• dichotomous key

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Fadeeva NP and Tchesunov AV for their kind help. We also thank to the anonymous referees for their revision and comments.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation of China [No. 41176107] and the Training Program of Fujian Excellent Talents in University.