Trichotria Bory de St Vincent, 1827

Luo, Yongting & Segers, Hendrik, 2013, On Pulchritia new genus, with a reappraisal of the genera of Trichotriidae (Rotifera, Monogononta), ZooKeys 342, pp. 1-12 : 8

Genus Trichotria Bory de St Vincent, 1827

Type species.

Trichotria pocillum ( Müller, 1776).

Emended diagnosis.

Body, including head and foot, loricate; head retractable, foot only partly retractable. Trunk lorica hexagonal in cross section, facetted, granulated, longer than wide, with parallel lateral margins in anterior part of the trunk. Head aperture nearly as wide as the trunk.

Discussion.

In comparison with Wolga , the anal segment is clearly discernible in almost all species but it is relatively weakly sclerotized; the two foot pseudosegments are cylindrical and strongly sclerotized. Retraction of the foot is not possible in those species in which the foot is situated terminally. Spines on the first foot pseudosegment and on the trunk lorica are present in most, but not all species (e.g., Trichotria pseudocurta Koste, Shiel & Tan, 1988). There are seven species in the genus ( Segers 2007), most are cosmopolitan, one ( Trichotria brevidactyla ) is Holarctic, two are Australian. Regarding the latter, however, the attribution of Trichotria buchneri to Trichotria was considered uncertain by Koste and Shiel (1989) in view of this species’ peculiar triangular cross section, and foot consisting of two cylindrical pseudosegments only (apparently without, a reduced, or completely retracted anal segment in the preserved material examined?). A re-examination of the species is in order.