The first Dugesia species (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae) documented for Saudi Arabia: an integrative description

作者：Abdel Halim Harrath, Lamjed Mansour, Ronald Sluys, Waleed Aldahmash, Marta Riutort, Saleh Alwasel · 发表于：Zootaxa · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.11646/zootaxa.5583.1.6 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Planarian Biology and Electrostimulation、Marine Ecology and Invasive Species、Plant and Biological Electrophysiology Studies

Exploration of various freshwater bodies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led to the discovery of a new species of Dugesia, thus representing the first documented record of freshwater planarians in this country and the second fully documented record of a naturally sexual population of a Dugesia species in the Arabian Peninsula. Based on morphological, karyological, anatomical, and molecular data, this Dugesia population from Saudi Arabia is here identified as representing a distinct, new species, Dugesia bursagrossa Harrath & Sluys, sp. nov. The species is characterized by the following anatomical features: dorsal testes; highly glandular, barrel-shaped penis papilla; vasa deferentia opening separately into the antero-dorsal portion of a small intrabulbar seminal vesicle; ejaculatory duct opening subterminally through the ventral side of the penis papilla; muscular penis bulb composed of intermingled longitudinal and circular muscles; two ovaries positioned ventrally at approximately one-third of the distance between the brain and the root of the pharynx; oviducts opening separately and at different levels into the vaginal portion of the bursal canal; very large copulatory bursa, occupying almost the entire ample space between the posterior wall of the pharyngeal pocket and the penis bulb; bursal canal lined with a nucleated epithelium and covered by subepithelial layers of longitudinal muscles, followed by layers of circular muscles. The karyotype of the new species exhibits m...