Cryptophallus Bock 1913

Le résumé fourni par la source

Cryptophallus Bock, 1913 Type species. Cryptophallus wahlbergi Bock, 1913. Emended diagnosis. Cryptophallus is characterized by: i) the presence of small knob-like tentacles; ii) the presence of tentacular, cerebro-frontal, and marginal eyespots; iii) the male copulatory apparatus not enclosed by a muscular bulb and situated beneath the posterior end of the pharynx, with spermiducal bulbs and a small prostatic vesicle, the latter lined with a smooth or slightly folded epithelium and positioned vertically above a wide, conical, unarmed penis papilla; and iv) ductus vaginalis and vagina externa opening into a common pore. Remarks. In its original description, the genus Cryptophallus included seven species: Cryptophallus wahlbergi Bock, 1913, Cryptophallus bartschi Kaburaki, 1923, Cryptophallus sondaicus Bock, 1925, Cryptophallus magnus Freeman, 1933, Cryptophallus eximius Kato, 1937, Cryptophallus aegypticus Melouk, 1940, and Cryptophallus japonicus Kato, 1944. Cryptophallus magnus has been recognized as a synonym of Kaburakia excelsa Bock, 1925 (Kato 1937). Faubel (1983) reassigned C. aegypticus, C. eximius, and C. bartschi to the family Callioplanidae Hyman, 1953, a family characterized by a smooth or somewhat wavy inner epithelium of the prostatic vesicle. While the remaining two species, C. wahlbergi and C. sondaicus, had been placed in the family Pseudostylochidae Faubel, 1983, in which the inner epithelium of the prostatic vesicle is tubularly chambered. Within Callioplanidae, he further assigned C. aegypticus and C. eximius to the genus Trigonoporus Lang, 1884, with the ductus vaginalis opening to the exterior well behind the female pore, and assigned C. bartschi to the genus Tokiphallus Faubel, 1983, based on the male apparatus being enclosed in a common muscular bulb. However, our review of the original descriptions shows that Faubel’s statement of the ductus vaginalis was incorrect. In fact, in the original descriptions of C. aegypticus and C. eximius, the authors clearly stated that the ductus vaginalis and vagina externa open into a common pore, which was also illustrated in the schematic figures of the copulatory apparatus of C. aegypticus (Melouk 1940: fig. 5) and C. eximius (Kato 1937: fig. 11). In addition, C. wahlbergi and C. sondaicus were originally described as having small folds in the proximal part of the prostatic vesicle (see Bock 1913, 1925), and thus do not possess a “ tubularly chambered ” epithelium. Therefore, Faubel’s classification of C. wahlbergi and C. sondaicus appears to be inaccurate. Taken together, we suggest that C. aegypticus, C. eximius, C. wahlbergi and C. sondaicus should be returned to Cryptophallus. Although C. bartschi differs from Cryptophallus in having the male apparatus enclosed in a common muscular bulb and the male copulatory organ positioned slightly posterior to the pharyngeal cavity (Kaburaki 1923), whether these characteristics are sufficient to classify it as a different genus (Tokiphallus) still requires further investigation.

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