Macrostomorpha taxonomy and phylogeny

And not only the sperm (although here you can see some amazing sperm movies, and access the pdf)...

"The large , ventrally disposed mouth, coupled with the highly distensible enteric sac, enables the animal to ingest others almost as large as itself. When in such a gastronomic dilemma, the animal lies quietly, while the large irregular bulk of food is reduced to a convenient size by enzymic action."

From Ferguson, 1939. A monograph of the genus Macrostomum O. Schmidt 1848. Part I, p14

We work under continuous surveillance!

A trinational field excursion, or wormsearch, is presently happening, based in Tvärminne Zoological Station (also known as Tvärminnen eläintieteellinen asema), a former Turbellarian hotspot, when Alexander Luther was its director (1919-1954 35 years!). He produced some of the most astonishing drawings of Macrostomum species (see for instance his 1905 paper in honour of Palmén, who founded the station where we presently amaze ourselves with tiny creatures). He also described numerous species and attracted and taught several renown turbellariologists.

This wormsearch's was organized by Lukas Schärer (CH), and we finally have an expert for "The Rest" of cute worms we always find and admire namelessly (i.e. the Rhabdocoela), Tom Artois (BE). The rest of the crew consists of Bart Tessens (BE), Gregor Schulte (DE), Micha Eichmann (CH) and myself.