On the systematic relationships of the vinegar eelworm, Turbatrix aceti, and its congeners, with a description of a new species

Abstract

Study of a species of eelworm closely akin to the eelworm of paper-hanger's paste but differing from it in certain anatomical details has afforded an opportunity for considering the systematic relationships of this interesting worm and its congeners with the result that a new and, to the writer, a more satisfactory grouping is put forward.In the characters of the head, the structure of the stoma, the shape and build of the oesophagus and the general structure and arrangement of the female gonad as well as in the distribution of the male caudal papillae and the character of the spicules, the genera comprising this group, show obvious resemblances to members of the family Cephalbbidae Chitwood & Chitwood, 1934. The writer therefore proposes their formal inclusion in this family.