Adineta editae Iakovenko 2015

Adineta editae Iakovenko, 2015

Adineta editae Iakovenko 2015: 15.

Adineta gracilis Janson, 1893: 77 – Dartnall & Hollowday 1985: 30, Donner 1965: 274, Kutikova 2005: 271

Notes. Based on the external morphology, we firstly considered these Adineta representatives with rostrum lamella not divided into lobes and without filamentous bristles as Adineta gracilis, which seemed quite fair. Despite the fact that the species was already recorded in Antarctica (Murray 1910; Sudzuki 1964; Sohlenius et al. 1996; Sohlenius & Bostrőm 2005), its taxonomy has recently become the subject of lively discussion. Especially after Iakovenko et al. (2015), who, using mitochondrial DNA sequencing, morphometry and analysis of masticatory apparatus, suggested to revise most of all Antarctic Adineta gracilis recorded in earlier taxonomic works as was the case with A. editae Iakovenko, 2015. After the publication of the above quoted work and after the consultation with its author (N.S. Iakovenko) our identification of Adineta gracilis has changed, and we reconsidered the species as Adineta editae. The main features, that settled our diagnosis and allowed to distinguish A. editae from A. gracilis were the following traits: (1) larger size (more than 300 µm), (2) relatively massive and wide trunk, (3) absence of the head elongation in the direction from the distal to the proximal.