Abstract
A large new species of acoel belonging to the genus Haploposthia (Acoela) is described. Haploposthia lactomaculata sp. nov. was collected by dredging from the Swedish west coast at depths of 45–55 m. The main diagnostic features of the species are a whitish translucent body with opaque white or milky dot pigmentation on the dorsal side around the midbody, epidermis with a smooth surface, sclerotized conical penis papilla, seminal vesicle surrounded by accessory glands, mixed germinal centre for ovary and testis, and large size (2–3 mm).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am greatly indebted to my supervisors Ulf Jondelius (Uppsala University) and Olga Raikova (Zoological Institute St. Petersburg, Russia) for providing the samples and sketches of the new species from live specimens and their invaluable comments and critiques concerning the manuscript. Financial support was given by the SIDA/SAREC‐Asmara programme and the Swedish Research Council.