Marine Macrostomorpha (Platyhelminthes, Rhabditophora) from the Algarve (Southern Portugal)

Abstract

Ten species of Macrostomorpha were found in marine environments of the Algarve (Portugal). Six of them were found in the Ria Formosa, a vast intertidal euryhaline lagoon system that dominates the most Eastern coast of the Algarve: two unidentified species of Microstomum Schmidt, 1848, Macrostomum cf. rubrocinctum Ax, 1951 and two unidentified species of Macrostomum Schmidt, 1848, Paromalostomum dubium (de Beauchamps, 1927), Paromalostomum minutum Rieger, 1971 and Cylindromacrostomum faroensis n.sp.. Comparison of this species with C. mediterraneum (Ax, 1955) and the species from Venice, considered to be C. mediterraneum by Rieger (1977), leads to the conclusion that the individuals studied by Rieger are in fact representatives of a separate species, C. riegeri n.sp.. Acanthomacrostomum spiculiferum Papi & Swedmark, 1959 was found in the Atlantic, 10-15 m deep, near the western coast of the Algarve. Haplopharynx papii n. sp. occurs on the beach exposed to the Atlantic as well as in the Ria Formosa. All identified and previously known (marine) species found in the Algarve had been found before, either in the Atlantic or in the Mediterranean basin.