Study of Teratocephalidae (Nematoda) from the Ukraine.: II.: Description of a population of Teratocephalus tennis Andrassy, 1958 with a discussion of male sexual characters

A population of Teratocephalus tennis Andrassy, 1958 from the Ukraine is described from studies by light and scanning electron microscope. The specimens examined agree well with the original description of T. tenuis but have wider ranges of body length (490-587 vs 526-565 mum), c'-ratio (5.3-8.4 vs 6.0-6.3) and annule width (1.4-1.9 vs 1.6 mum), and differ by length of spicules (15-18 vs 12-13 mum), structure of the cuticle (with vs without longitudinal striae), and the number of genital papillae in the male. The specimens at hand were also compared with populations of T. lirellus Anderson, 1969 from which they differ by a larger c-ratio (7.6-10.1 vs 2.6-5.8), and a smaller c'-ratio (5.3-8.4 vs 8-35). Male sexual characters of T. bisexualis, T. rugosus and T. tilbrooki were re-examined. The taxonomic value of male sexual characters for identification of bisexual species of Teratocephalus is discussed.