Life history of the freshwater microturbellarian Macrostomum velastylum (Macrostomorpha) in the Neotropical region

ABSTRACT

The genus Macrostomum (Platyhelminthes: Macrostomorpha) is a group of cosmopolitan free-living flatworms that occurs in a wide range of habitats. In our study, individuals of Macrostomum velastylum were collected from the Sagastume stream (33°38ʹ34ʺS; 58°49ʹ63ʺW) Entre Ríos Province, Argentina, during 2016. They were kept in laboratory at room temperature in order to study population parameters (1, fecundity; 2, hatching rate and hatching time; 3, male sexual maturation time; and 4, longevity). The results show that this species laid 1.5 eggs per day per individual, the hatching rate was 85% and most eggs hatched between the first and second week after laying. The maturation time showed an extensive range of time to reach sexual maturation. The average longevity was 96 ± 33 days. Considering the laboratory conditions and the scarce information on life cycles on Macrostomum species, these results are promising for future interspecific comparative studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Freshwater flatworm
• fecundity
• longevity
• microturbellarian
• Macrostomorpha

Acknowledgments

We thank to student Maria Celeste Lachowicz for her assistance in the laboratory work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Geolocation information

Sagastume stream Entre Ríos Province, Argentina (point): 33°38ʹ34ʺS, 58°49ʹ63ʺW.

D ata a vailability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in ‘Figshare’ Repository http://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12076113.v1

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CONICET (PIP 0419) and Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (N886), and PICT2016-3290.