A new species of Turbanellidae (Gastrotricha, Macrodasyida) from Jamaica, with a key to species of Paraturbanella

By

Dal Zotto, Matteo
Leasi, Francesca
Todaro, M. Antonio

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

734

Pages

105-119

Subjects

Benthos , Biodiversity , Caribbean Sea , meiofauna , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.734.23023

 

Abstract

The study falls within the framework of a wider research programme aimed at investigating the gastrotrich diversity of the Tropical North-Western Atlantic (TNWA). A new macrodasyidan gastrotrich is described from fine-medium sand collected at Duncans Bay, Jamaica. The description is based on observations carried out on living specimens using differential interference contrast microscopy. Paraturbanella xaymacana sp. n., the third gastrotrich taxon reported from Jamaica, is a mid-sized species, up to 564 μm long, with a feeble peribuccal swelling. The most obvious autapomorphic traits pertain to the testes and the male pore, both of which are located approximately at mid body, rather than at- or near the pharyngo-intestinal junction as occur in the other species of the genus. Additional differences with congeners are discussed and a key to the Paraturbanella species is provided, in the hope it will be useful to both gastrotrich experts and marine ecologists who discover these microscopic metazoans during their research.