Lecane inermis ( Bryce, 1892 )

Min, Hee-Min Yang and Gi-Sik, 2021, New records of three lecanid rotifers (Rotifera: Monogononta: Lecanidae) from Korea, Journal of Species Research 10 (3), pp. 262-266 : 263

1. Lecane inermis ( Bryce, 1892) ( Fig. 1 )

Distyla inermis Bryce, 1892, p. 274 ; Montet, 1915, p. 336.

Cathypna inermis Murray, 1913a, p. 556 - 557; Weber & Montet, 1918, p. 187.

Lecane inermis : Harring, 1913, p. 61; Kutikova, 1970, p. 451; Koste & Voigt, 1978, p. 219; Koste & Shiel, 1990, p. 25; Segers, 1995, p. 36.

Lecane amorpha Harring, 1914, p. 544 .

Lecane supinoi Manfredi, 1929, p. 3 - 5.

Material examined. Soil sample from Jangbang-ri , Hanlim-myeon, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea, 35°19 ʹ 01.4 ʺ N, 128°48 ʹ 10.6 ʺ E. Collected by Kyu-Seok Chae on 13 May 2020 (NNIBRIV50291) .

Description. Body soft and illoricated. Dorsal and ventral plate hard to distinguish. Anterior margin of lorica irregular. Lorica length 65.0 - 67.5 μm and lorica width 37.5 - 40.0 μm. Prepedal folds narrow and elongated. Foot plate round, with rectangular foot pseudosegment. Foot pseudosegment slightly protruded outward. Toes with long, flexible claws. Toe 7.5 μm in length, claws 5.0 μm ( Fig. 1A, C ). One red eye located at front end of mastax. Stomach large, connect to mastax by thick, distinctive esophagus. One pair of large gastric gland located between mastax and stomach. Vitellarium with nine spherical nuclei ( Fig. 1B ). Trophi malleate type. Fulcrum short and thin in ventral view. Right rami with alula. Each uncus with two teeth. Manubria long, terminal end curved interiorly ( Fig. 1D ).

Distribution. Cosmopolitan.

Remarks. Lecane inermis had previously been recorded in a number of Asian countries: Cambodia ( Meas and Sor, 2014), China ( Wang, 1961), India ( Sharma and Sharma, 2019), Laos ( Meas and Sor, 2014), and Thailand ( Sanoamuang et al., 1995). The external morphology of the Korean L. inermis is similar to that described by Segers (1995), wheras SEM image of the trophi correspond to that of the Italian specimen observed by Fontaneto and Melone (2003). This species is one of the 14 illoricated species within the genus Lecane , namely, L. agilis ( Bryce, 1892) ; L. bifurcata ( Bryce, 1892) ; L. boorali Koste & Shiel, 1983 ; L. broaensis Segers & Dumont, 1995 ; L. calcaria Harring & Myers, 1926 ; L. clara ( Bryce, 1892) ; L. elegans Harring, 1914 ; L. inermis ( Bryce, 1892) ; L. margalefi De Manuel, 1994 ; L. niothis Harring & Myers, 1926 ; L. palinacis Harring & Myers, 1926 ; L. pumila (Rousselet, 1906) ; L. rhacois Harring & Myers, 1926 ; and L. solfatara (Hauer, 1938) ( Jersabek and Leitner, 2013; Segers, 1995). Of these illoricated species, L. inermis is most similar to L. elegans Harring, 1914 and L. margalefi De Manuel, 1994 . This species, however, can be distinguished from these two congeners, by its toes with relatively long claws ( Segers, 1995).

Figures

Fig. 1. Lecane inermis. A, B. Line drawing of preserved specimen. C. photograph of preserved specimen. D. trophi. Scale bars: A-C=50 μm, D =10 μm.