Dactylopodola australiensis Hochberg, 2003

Todaro, M. Antonio, Zotto, Matteo Dal, Bownes, Sarah J. & Perissinotto, Renzo, 2011, First records of Gastrotricha from South Africa, with description of a new species of Halichaetonotus (Chaetonotida, Chaetonotidae), ZooKeys 142, pp. 1-13 : 2-3

Dactylopodola australiensis Hochberg, 2003 Fig. 1A

Material.

1 specimen, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, St Lucia beach, 7 October 2010, SJ Bownes legit.

Morphometry.

TL, 319 µm; PhL, 92 µm; PhIJ at U26; TbA, 4 per side; TbL, 1+1+1+2 per side; TbP, 5 per side; Ocellar granules absent.

Remarks.

the single specimen found is a young adult at the male phase. Among the nine species of Dactylopodola described so far ( Hummon and Todaro 2010), the body shape of the specimen from South Africa most resembles Dactylopodola australiensis Hochberg, 2003, Dactylopodola indica (Rao & Ganapati, 1968), Dactylopodola mesotyphle Hummon, Todaro, Tongiorgi & Balsamo, 1998 and Dactylopodola typhle (Remane, 1927). By virtue of its body size (considering the age), number and arrangement of the adhesive tubes our specimen best approaches the morphometric traits of Dactylopodola indica and, especially, of Dactylopodola australiensis . While Dactylopodola indica is reported (Rao and Ganapati 1968) to have only 2 TbA and 4 TbP per side (vs 4 and 5, respectively), Dactylopodola australiensis seems to differ from the South African specimen solely in the length of the pharynx (131 vs 92 µm) and in the position of the pharyngeo-intestinal junction (U34-U35 vs U26) (see Hochberg 2003); it is possible that dissimilarities are due to the early age of the African specimen.