Summary
The cerebral and epidermal ocelli of the Müller's larva and the cerebral and tentacular eyes of the adult turbellarian Pseudoceros canadensis were studied by electron microscopy. The right cerebral ocellus of the larva consists of one cup-shaped pigmented cell and three sensory cells that bear microvilli. The left cerebral eye of the larva has the above named cells plus a sensory cell with many cilia. Evolutionary significance is attributed to the presence of both ciliary and microvillar photoreceptors in an eye of a flatworm. The one epidermal ocellus of the larva is composed of two cells: a cup-shaped pigmented one bearing flattened cilia, the presumed photoreceptors, and a cell above the cup that adds a few nonciliary lamellae to the stack of ciliary ones from the pigmented cell. The adult eyes contain only microvillar receptors; cilia were not observed.
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Eakin, R.M., Brandenburger, J.L. Fine structure of the eyes of Pseudoceros canadensis (Turbellaria, Polycladida). Zoomorphology 98, 1–16 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310317
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310317