Go to National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa
Volume 79, 1951
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Internal Anatomy (Plate 123, fig. 2)

Septa vi/vii, vii/viii, viii/ix, ix/x, x/xi, xi/xii, xii/xiii and xiii/xiv are very muscular and greatly thickened. There are no septa anterior to iv/v.

Alimentary Canal. The pharynx is rounded and muscular and occupies segments i–iv. A short gizzard with thick muscular walls lies in v. A dilated oesophagus extends from vi to xix. There are no oesophageal glands. The intestine commences in xx and has a typhlosole.

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Vascular System. The dorsal blood vessel is paired throughout its length. There are five pairs of hearts surrounding the oesophagus, one in each of ix, x, xi, xii and xiii, those in ix being much more slender than those in × to xiii.

Reproductive System. There are two pairs of lobate testes close to the ventral midline, a pair in × and a pair in xi, and a single pair of lobate ovaries close to the ventral midline in xiii. There are two pairs of spermathecae, a pair in viii and a pair in ix. Each is in the form of a small sac. flattened dorso-ventrally and opening by a short duct to the exterior. A cluster of small diverticula open into the spermathecal duct. (Plate 123, fig. 3.) Two pairs of convoluted tubular prostates are present, a pair in xvii and a pair in xix. There are no penial chaetae, but strong copulatory muscles extend from the region of the prostatic ducts to the lateral aspects of the body-wall in xvii, xviii and xix. There are two pairs of racemose vesiculae seminales, a pair in ix and a pair in xii.

Micronephridia commence in v. There is a small cluster of micronephridial tubules close to the ventral nerve cord on each side of each of the segments.