Published September 1, 2021 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Chaetonotus (Hystricochaetonotus) spinulosus Stokes 1887

  • 1. Near Hari Mandir Road, Hirapur, Dhanbad 826001, Jharkhand, India.
  • 2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, via G. Campi 213 / D, I- 41125 Modena, Italy. antonio. todaro @ unimore. it; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 6353 - 7281

Description

Chaetonotus (Hystricochaetonotus) spinulosus Stokes, 1887

Records from India. MEGHALAYA: Sharma & Sharma (1990); GENERAL RECORD: Naidu & Rao (2004), Purushothaman (2017).

Habitat (as in Indian records). Freshwater; among aquatic vegetation in ponds and tanks.

Distribution. USA, Europe and India.

Remarks. Small sized species (up to 90 μm in total length) characterized by the presence of 7-8 big, singlebarbed spines (18-25 μm in length), at mid-posterior trunk. Spines originate directly from the body surface (i.e., not from a basal scale) and are arranged in two transverse rows of 4 + 3 spines each. Some variability in these traits has been reported. For example, Schwank (1990) refers to specimens having 8 big spines originating from a basal scale. In India, a single specimen belonging to this species has been recorded so far (Sharma & Sharma 1990). According to the authors it was only 62 μm in total length, probably the smallest adult gastrotrich ever found, and matched the original description in having 7 big spines, arranged in 4 + 3 pattern. Future studies at morphological and molecular levels should investigate the status of the different populations. We also call for a better description of the species from its terra typica (i.e., New Jersey and/or Michigan, USA).

Notes

Published as part of Chatterjee, Tapas & Todaro, M. Antonio, 2021, An annotated checklist of the chaetonotidan Gastrotricha from India, pp. 332-350 in Zootaxa 5027 (3) on page 337, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/5449646

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

References

  • Sharma B. K. & Sharma S. (1990) On some Freshwater Gastrotricha from N. E. Region. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 86, 211 - 215.
  • Naidu, K. V. & Rao, G. C. (2004) Gastrotricha. In: Fauna of India and the adjacent countries. Zoological Survey of India, Kol- kata, pp. 169.
  • Purushothaman, J. (2017) Gastrotricha. Chapter 8. In: Chandra, K., Gopi, K. C., Rao, D. V., Valarmathi, K. & Alfred, J. R. B. (Eds.), Current Status of Freshwater Faunal Diversity in India. Published by the Director, Zoological. Survey of India, Kolkata, pp. 8115 - 125.
  • Schwank, P. (1990) Gastrotricha. In: Braur, A., Schwoerbel, J. & Zwick, P. (Eds.), Susswasser Fauna von Mitteleuropa. Band 3. Heft 1. 2. Gastrotricha und Nemertini. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart and Jenai, pp. i - xvi + 1 - 262.