Reports on the free-living platyhelminthes from Australia: Typhloplanoida, with the description of three new taxa

Abstract

Five typhloplanoids from the Australian East Coast are reported, three of them new to science. Two taxa are members of Promesostomidae: Vauclusia conica n.g. n.sp., characterised by a cone-shaped stylet, the presence of a female bursa and a very long, partially-swollen female duct; Brinkmanniella australiensis n.sp. has a funnel-shaped stylet with a smooth distal tip. Pilamonila bimascula n.g. n.sp. is a representative of the Solenopharyngidae, characterised by a stylet within a cirrus. The known species found are Ceratopera axi and Ptychopera scutulifer.