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LXIII.The Nematode
genus Rondonia
Travassos
a
H.A. Baylis M.A. D.Sc.
a
Department of Zoology , British
Museum (Natural History)
Published online: 18 Aug 2009.

To cite this article: H.A. Baylis M.A. D.Sc. (1936) LXIII.The Nematode
genus Rondonia Travassos , Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Series
10, 17:102, 606-610

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933608655160

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 606 Dr. H. A. Baylis on
to separate both specimens, as they are identical.
The female of AnthidieUum flavescens is similar to the
male. Mandibles very briefly 4-dentate; apical half
of mandibles black-brown; lower margin of clypeus
with four very small rounded tubercles ; scape and second
antennal joint black ; ventral seopa light golden white.
The British Museum has a series of females of
Anthidiellum flavescens from S. R~ODESIA : Lonely Mine
(A. Swale), and the Transvaal Museum has 2 ~ and 1 3
from Bulawayo (R. H. R. Stevenson).
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LXIII.---The Nematode Genus Rondonia Travassos. By

H. A. BAYLIS, M.A., D.Sc., Department of Zoology,
British Museum (Natural History).
THE genus Rondonia was very briefly defined b y Travassos
(1920), and the species rondoni indicated as its type.
This species was said to be a parasite of Brazilian river-
fishes, b u t these were not mentioned b y name. In a
later paper (1923) Travassos refers to the occurrence
of R. rondoni in Piaractus brachypomus, b u t the species
appears to have been described and figured for the first
time b y Travassos, Artigas, and Pereira (1928), who
recorded as its hosts Piaractus brachypomus, Myletes
torquatus, Doras granulosus and Myleus sp.
The writer has recently had occasion to examine some
Nematodes from another fish (Doras [Pseudodoras]
brunnescens), collected b y Dr. W. N. F. Woodland during
his expedition to the Amazon in 1931. These were found
to agree on the whole with the description of R. rondoni,
b u t differed from it in certain small points. The material
was also compared with specimens from Piaractus brachy-
porous, identified as R. rondoni b y D r . Herman Lent
and Dr. Teixeira de Freitas, of the Instituto Oswaldo
Cruz, Rio de Janeiro. In these again the same differences
from the description were found. There appears to be
no reason to doubt that both sets of specimens belong
to Travassos' species, b u t some slight redeseription seems
desirable.
The males measure about 5-6-25 mm. in length, the
females about 6-7.9 mm. The maximum thickness
is about 0.3 mm. in the male and a little more in the
 the Nematode Genus Rondonia Travassos. 607
female. The three bilobed lips, each of which has two
rather prominent papillm, measure about 0.02 mm.
(not 0-2 mm.) in length. The total length of the
(esophagus, measured from the anterior extremity, is
about 0.74-0.83 mm. in the male and 0.77-0.95 ram.
in the female. Its stout, cylindrical, anterior portion
(the (esophagus proper) measures 0.43-0.55 mm. in
length. Its lining is strengthened b y three cuticular
rods. The posterior portion, which is in reality a bulb
with a long, narrow " neck," is 0-28-0.4 ram. long. The
swollen hinder part of the bulb has a diameter of about
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0.14 ram. The three so-called " valves " in its interior
take the form of rounded pads covered with finely ribbed
cuticle, and m a y perhaps serve as a grinding apparatus.
The nerve-ring is situated near the anterior end of the
neck of the bulb, and the excretory pore at a variable
distance (about 0-1-0-2 mm.) behind the junction of the
bulb with the intestine.
The caudal end of the male is curled ventrally, usually
forming a full turn of a spiral. The tail is tapering and
pointed, and measures about 0.55-0.7 ram. in length.
Travassos, Artigas and Pereira state that there are
four equidistant pairs of postanal papillm and one pair
of preanal. In the present material (from both the
sources referred to above) nine pairs of papillae have
been observed (fig. 1, A). Of these five are postanal
(the most posterior being laterally or subdorsally situated,
the others subventrally), two adanal (one subventral,
at or immediately behind the angles of the cloacal aper-
ture, and one lateral), and two preanal and subventral.
The spicules are unequal in length and dissimilar in
form. The left spicule is 0.18-0.225 ram. long, and is
provided with delicate alto for about the distal two-thirds
of its length. The spicule shows a slight torsion about
its axis near the tip. The right spicule is about half
as long as the left (0.1-0.12 mm.) and is simple, some-
what swollen in the middle, and sharply pointed at
the tip. The accessory piece is about 0.045-0.07 mm.
(not 0,64 mm.) long, and is of a tubular structure.
Travassos, Artigas and Pereira mention the presence,
in front of the cloacal aperture, of two parallel linear
" chitinous formations " composed of small apposed
rectangles. The writer's interpretation of these struc-
 608 Dr. H. A. Baylis o n

tures is somewhat different. T h e y appear to be con-

tinuous longitudinal strips or v e r y slightly raised ridges
of cuticle, 0.01-0-014 ram. wide, closely set with minute,
backwardly-pointed spines *. These spines are arranged
in transverse rows of a b o u t 8-10 (fig. 1, B). The
" s t r i p s , " which appear to be easily detached from the
underlying cuticle, run along the subventral surfaces
of the body, beginning a t about 0.3 ram. in front of the
cloacal aperture a n d extending forward for a distance
of a b o u t 1 m m . W h e n the cuticle of the ventral surface
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Fig. 1.

i )

! .............. z

I 0-! ram.
I

Rondonia rondoni Tray.

A, cloacal region of male ; lateral view. a.p., accessory piece ; 1., left
spicule ; r., right spicule. B, surface-view of a small portion
of one of the spiny ridges.

is t h r o w n into pronounced transverse folds or wrinkles,

these spiny areas sometimes have the appearance of
being divided transversely into a series of small cushion-
like pads.
The genital tube is single, a n d ends anteriorly in a
single, reflexed testis, which extends somewhat in front
of the middle of the body.
* Similar structures occur in Atractis dactyluris (Rud.) and other
speclee of A~racti,
 the Nematode Genus Rondonia Trava~sos. 609

The taft of the female is, like that of the male, tapering
and pointed, b u t is straight. I t measures 0.75-1.33 mm.
in length in the specimens seen b y the writer (0-67 mm.,
according to Travassos, Artigas and Pereira). In this
genus the female has a character which is very exceptional
among Nematodes, in that the reproductive system
has a common opening with the alimentary canal.
As in the male, the genital tube is single. I t lies, for the
greater part of its length, on the left side of the intestine,
but passes, as a non-muscular vagina, ventrally to the
rectum to open by a very narrow aperture just within
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Fig. 2.
7"

I o.u ~. I o~

Rondonla rondoni T r a y . A n a l region o f f e m a l e ; lateral view.

a., a n o - g e n i t a l a p e r t u r e ; r., r e c t u m ; v., v a g i n a .

the anus (fig. 2). The single, reflexed ovary does not,
in young females, extend as far as the middle of the body.
In gravid females, however, it appears to be pushed
further forward b y the development of the uterus.
The worm is viviparous, producing a relatively small
number of larvse at a time. These escape from their
thin vitelline membranes and attain a length of a b o u t
2-2.2 mm. in the uterus. The oesophagus of the larva,
while still within the egg-membrane, is already of the
same form as in the adult. In the hatched larva it
attains a length of 0.4-0.44 ram. According to Travassos,
Ann, & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 10. Vol. xvii. 41
 610 Mr. James Meikle Brown on
Artigas and Pereira the number of larvae present at a time
in the uterus rarely exceeds two, and they state that
the larv*e are apparently liberated by the rupture of the
body of the female. Gravid females were scarce in the
material examined by the writer, and evidence of this
method of birth was not observed. One female, however,
contained no less than nine free larvm, and these, as was
proved by dissection, all lay within the uterus, the wall
of which was intact.
From the description just given it will be seen that
Rondonia is, in almost all respects, a typical member of
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the family Atractid,e. The only feature, in fact, which

appears to distinguish it from the genus Atractis is the
presence of a common ano-genital aperture in the female,
and this condition would be reached by a very slight
modification of t h a t seen in Atractis and the other genera
of the family, in all of which the vulva is close to the
anus. It seems open to question, therefore, whether this
character is of generic importance.
The writer is indebted to the Director of the Welcome
Research Institution for the opportunity of studying
Dr. Woodland's specimens.

REFERENCES.
TRAVASSOS, L. 1920. " Esbo~o de u r e a C h a v e geral d o s N e m a t o d e s
p a r a s i t o s . " R e v . Vet. e Zootech., R i o d e J a n e i r o , p p . 59-70 bis,
1 table.
1923. " Informa~Ses sobre a F a u n a H e l m i n t h o l o g i c a de
M a t t o Grosso." F o l h a Medica, R i o de J a n e i r o , iv. p. 29,
, ARTIGAS, P., & PEREIRA, C~. 1928. " F a u n a Helminthologica
dos P e i x e s de A g u a Doce do Brasil." Arch. I n s t . Biol., S~o
Pattie, i. p p . 5-68, pls. i . - x i v .

L X I V . - - O n some Collembola from Lapland.

By JAMES MEIXL~. BROWN, B.Sc., F.L.S., F.R.E.S.
I AM indebted to Mr. D. V. Fitzgerald, F.R.E.S., for
placing at m y disposal for determination a small but
interesting collection of Collembola made by him in the
Islands of Seiland and Kvalo~n, in Finmark, during June
and J u l y 1934,