Fine structure of the body wall, nervous system, and digestive tract in the Lobatocerebridae Rieger and the organization of the gliointerstitial system in Annelida

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Abstract
The new family Lobatocerebridae, Rieger, contains a group of turbellariomorph worms in the annelid line of evolution. The fine structural organization of the body wall, the digestive tract, and parts of the central and peripheral nervous system are described and the findings are discussed in light of general invertebrate cytology. The epidermis and gastrodermis contain a basal granule cell system which is structurally very similar to the neuroglia cell system of the nervous system. The continuity of the neuroglia cell system, and the epidermal basal granule cell system and the basal granule cell system in the digestive epithelia suggests the existence of a single glial‐basal granule cell system, similar to the gliointerstitial cell system first recognized in the Mollusca (see Nicaise, '73). The Annelida may show a dual (ectodermal and mesodermal) origin of such a gliointerstitial cell system as suggested by similarities in the epidermal basal cell system in the Oligochaeta and of certain epidermal and gastrodermal cells in polychaete regeneration with neuroglia in the Annelida. The structural similarity of neuroglia and basal granule cells in Lobatocerebridae may be the result of similarity in the formation, maintenance, or regulation of the extracellular matrix.