Author(s): Eglal A. Koura and Afaf A. Jubair
Article publication date: 1989-04-01
Vol. 7 No. 1 (yearly), pp. 129-143.
165
Keywords
protozoans, insects, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
A new species of septate gregarine was discovered in the mid gut region of the coleopteran insect Adesmia cancellata (Klug) during a general survey of protozoans. All the insects were collected from six cities in the Central Region of Saudi Arabia.
An investigation of the biology of this species revealed unique characteristic features different from all other described species of the genus Stylocephalus (Ellis). The most pronounced distinguishing features shown by the new species relate to its length, its maximum length being 2483 µm. The epimerite consists of two parts: a proximal neck which is hyaline and retractile and a distal disc provided with a large number of a small papillae reaching a length of 99 µm at the longest specimens. The protomerite is variable in shape, wider than long with a constriction at the septum with dense cytoplasm. The deutomerite is elongated, and carrot-shaped. The nucleus is circular to elongated 31-83 µm with 5 karyosomes. Syzygy is side-by-side with individuals alined in opposite directions. The name suggested for this new species is Stylocephalus arabica