Minictena luteola, genre et espèce nouveaux de cténophore Cydippida méditerranéen a cinq types de colloblastes

Minictena luteola gen. and sp. nov, is a small and unusual Cydippida ctenophore, found in the Mediterranean. Its general form and gastrovascular system with stomodeal canals, are similar to those of juvenile Pl.eurobrachiidae. It is characterised by: body semitransparent, yellowish; comb rows equal in length, in pairs from the tip to about the 2/3 of the body length; two apical and unequal pairs of rounded processes; tentacular sheaths of large size apposed to the infundibulum, opening aborally; tentacles with filiform tentilla bearing five types of colloblasts: three of them have a layer of refractive vesicles and a filament with only 1 or 2 spiral turns, the two others have no refractive vesicles and a filament with numerous spiral turns. This polymorphism of colloblasts is an unknown feature among ctenophores.