Addition to the known diversity of Chinese freshwater planarians: integrative description of a new species of Dugesia Girard, 1850 (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae)

Abstract

The present paper describes a new species of freshwater flatworm of the genus Dugesia from Guizhou province, China, based on an integrative approach, combining morphological, histological and molecular information. This new species, Dugesia gemmulata Sun & Wang, sp. nov., is characterized by the ventral part of the most posterior section of the bursal canal being provided with a voluminous, ellipsoidal muscular swelling; sac- or egg-shaped seminal vesicle situated near the ventral body surface in anterior portion of the penis bulb; postero-dorsal wall of seminal vesicle communicating with a narrow duct that first runs almost vertically but then shows a postero-dorsally directed loop before connecting with a small diaphragm; an ejaculatory duct opening terminally or subterminally; an asymmetrical penis papilla, with its dorsal lip being provided with a bump; oviducts opening asymmetrically into female copulatory apparatus, with the left oviduct opening into the common atrium and the right oviduct opening into the vaginal section of the bursal canal. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the new species belongs to a clade comprising species from the Australasian and Oriental regions, while it shares a sister-group relationship with D. umbonata Song & Wang, 2020, a species characterized by a muscular swelling on the dorsal side of its bursal canal.