Description

Description. The holotype is 130 mm long, with a diameter of 0.37 mm in the midbody region. The specimen is very light (yellowish-white) in colour. The posterior end has two tail lobes. The cuticle is structured by long elevated bands or ridges running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the animal (Fig. 1 a-d). These bands sometimes branch or fuse, and branches may end blindly (Fig. 1 b, c). In most observed regions the bands are composed of a higher central part and lateral lower parts (Fig. 1 d, e). In some regions the lower parts were not clearly observed, but this may be due to a covering of dirt in the region between the bands. The surface of the bands contains numerous fine cracks orientated perpendicular to their axis (Fig. 1 d). In some regions these cracks appear without a certain pattern and are only partial (Fig. 1 e), in others they appear to separate the band into numerous subunits (Fig. 1 d). The region between the bands is often filled with debris, in parts where the dirt could be removed there are bristles or spines which are up to 4 µm long (Fig. 1 d, e). In the anterior end, approximately 270 µm from the anterior tip, the longitudinal bands gradually turn into polygonal or irregularly shaped individual areoles (Fig. 2 a-c). Between these areoles solid spines of 1 - 2 µm length are scattered (Fig. 2 d). The anterior most 75 µm are free of cuticular structures (Fig. 2 a). The posterior end has two tail lobes and contains the ventral cloacal opening (Fig. 2 f). This is oval, approximately 20 x 45 µm in size and surrounded by circumcloacal spines (Fig. 2 e). These spines are stout, approximately 5 µm long, which are apically branched. The cloacal opening is 30 - 35 µm from the point where the separation into two tail lobes starts. The tail lobes are approximately three times as long as broad (roughly 300 x 100 mm). Posterior to the cloacal opening, extending onto the inner side of the tail lobes, are conical spines, which decrease in size posteriorly (Fig. 2 e, f). Anterolaterally of the cloacal opening are structures which could represent parts of anterocloacal bristle fields, but as there is some dirt and suboptimal cuticle preservation in this region, this observation has to be taken with caution (Fig. 2 f, g). In the ventral region anterior of the posterior end, modifications of the cuticle were observed. There are paired stripes, in which elevation with longitudinal keels of 7.5 to 10 µm occur (Fig. 2 h, i). Eight rows of such keeled structures occur in one stripe.

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Nematomorpha

Class: Gordioida

Order: Gordioidea

Family: Chordodidae

Genus: Beatogordius

Species: Beatogordius nagalandis Yadav, Schmidt-Rhaesa & LimaTEMJEN, 2017