Abrochtha kingi, Jr & Ricci & Melone & Fontaneto, 2011

Jr, C. William Birky, Ricci, Claudia, Melone, Giulio & Fontaneto, Diego, 2011, Integrating DNA and morphological taxonomy to describe diversity in poorly studied microscopic animals: new species of the genus Abrochtha Bryce, 1910 (Rotifera: Bdelloidea: Philodinavidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 161 (4), pp. 723-734 : 729-730

ABROCHTHA KINGI SP. NOV.

Type material: Slide mounted holotype and ten paratypes, along with digital still and video photographs, deposited in the Academy of Natural Sciences , Philadelphia, accession numbers 2061 (holotype) and 2062 to 2071 (paratypes); DNA sequence of COI deposited in GenBank (accession number GU989444 ). All specimens were isolated from a clonal lab culture obtained from one individual named Shelf 1.3, collected from the type locality on 29 July 2002 by C. W. B .

Type locality: Shelf Lake Number 3, Snowy Range, Wyoming, USA; altitude 3316 m, 41°22 ′ 43.2 ′′ N, 106°17 ′ 20.9 ′′ W .

Etymology: The new species is dedicated to the lifelong studies of Charles Everett King, from Oregon State University, on ecology and genetics of rotifers.

Differential diagnosis: No unambiguous discrimination is possible between this species and A. meselsoni so far, except from its COI sequence. Ramus length was significantly smaller than in A. meselsoni , but with a wide overlap; therefore, such difference in size is useless for taxonomic purposes. For A. kingi , we determined the mean ramus length from SEMs of the left and right ramus of 13 individuals. These data were compared to measurements of 40 trophi of A. meselsoni : 22 from the type clone (Angl2.7b), eight animals of clone Angl2.8, and ten from clone Angl1.1. Ramus length was significantly different amongst clones [analysis of variance ( ANOVA) test: F 3,49 = 3.80, P = 0.015]; a post-hoc Tukey’s honestly significant difference ( HSD) test gave a significant difference between the type clone of A. meselsoni and A. kingi (P = 0.002), but no significant differences amongst the different clones of A. meselsoni (P = 0.34 and 0.61).

General morphology: The external morphology ( Figs 5A , 6 ) completely overlaps with that of A. meselsoni . Refer to the previous description for its morphological features. Additionally, trophi shape and number of teeth are not distinguishable from A. meselsoni ( Fig. 4C, D ).

730 C. W. BIRKY ET AL.

Measurements: Body measures overlap those of A. meselsoni and of A. kingi , but some animals reached larger size: total length, 360 Mm; trunk length, 210 Mm; trunk width, 110 Mm; head width, 60 Mm. The ramus length measured from SEM is 16.17 ± 0.63 (SD) Mm (N = 26).

Distribution and ecology: This new species is known only from the type locality, Shelf Lake Number 3 in the Snowy Range of Wyoming. This is a small shallow lake in the Alpine Zone at an altitude of 3316 m that is filled with water from snowmelt and rain in summer, but covered by deep snow and at least partly frozen in winter.

DNA barcoding: The sequence of partial COI mtDNA of animals collected from the same clonal laboratory culture Shelf1.3 has been deposited in GenBank with accession number GU989444 .

Figures

Figure 4. Scanning electron microscopy pictures of trophi of Abrochtha meselsoni sp. nov. (A, B) and Abrochtha kingi sp. nov. (C, D). A, C, caudal view; B, D, cephalic view. Scale bar = 5 Mm.

Figure 5. A, Abrochtha kingi sp. nov.: habitus in dorsal view. B, Abrochtha sonneborni sp. nov.: habitus in dorsal view. Scale bar = 50 Mm.

Figure 6. Abrochtha kingi sp. nov.: scanning electron microscopy pictures of details of body morphology. A, head, ventrolateral view; B, antenna; C, foot; D, rostrum; E, epidermis. Scale bars = 10 Mm (A), 5 Mm (B–D), 2 Mm (E).