Heterolepidoderma aff. majus Remane, 1927

Kolicka, Małgorzata, 2019, Gastrotricha - not only in sediments: new epiphytic species of Chaetonotida from the Jubilee Greenhouse of the Botanical Garden in Kraków, European Journal of Taxonomy 511, pp. 1-100 : 51-53

Heterolepidoderma aff. majus Remane, 1927

Fig. 35

Heterolepidoderma majus Remane, 1927: 313 –315, fig. 10.

Locus typicus

Germany.

Material examined

POLAND • 8adults; Kraków, Botanical Garden, Jubilee Greenhouse, sites 1–2 ; 50°03'38" N, 19°57'30"E; 15 Nov. 2013; M. Kolicka leg.; NHC (photomicrographs, also in the author's collection) .

Distribution

Nominal Heterolepidoderma majus Remane, 1927 is a species that is widely distributed in Europe, inter alia reported from: Bulgaria ( Valkanov 1937), France ( Kisielewski 1997a), Germany ( Remane 1927), Great Britain ( Martin 1990), Poland (e.g., Roszczak 1936; Kisielewska & Kisielewski 1986a, 1986b, 1986 c), Russia (Tretjakova 1989) and Romania ( Rudescu 1967); it has also been reported from Argentina ( Grosso & Drahg 1984), Brazil ( Kisielewski 1991), Canada ( Schwank 1990) and Japan ( Sudzuki 1971).

Remarks

The body length of adult specimens of Heterolepidoderma aff. majus Remane, 1927 varied from 111.1 to 131.4 μm; length of pharynx was between 31.9 and 40.3 μm; intestine length from 60.7 to 72.6 μm; 53–57 total longitudinal rows of scales (19–21D +10DL+8L+8–10LV+ 8V), with 23–27 scales in the central row ( Fig. 35 ).

In a previous paper, these specimens were reported as Heterolepidoderma majus Remane, 1927 ( Kisielewska et al. 2015). However, although the specimens seemed to fall within the range of variability as reported by Schwank (1990) and Kisielewski (1997 a), the presence of one pair of scales with four keels, nearly parallel to one another, did not allow, after a thorough analysis, the identification of the specimens from the Jubilee Greenhouse as representatives of the nominal species H. majus . The question of the species affinities of these individuals demands further analyses and studies of intra- and interspecific variability within Heterolepidoderma .

Figures

Fig. 35. Heterolepidoderma aff. majus Remane, 1927. Adult specimen. Bright field microphotographs. A. Habitus. B. Dorsal view. C. Ventral view.