Heteroxenotrichula squamosa Wilke, 1954

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 : 8

Heteroxenotrichula squamosa Wilke, 1954 Fig. 1E

Material.

1 adult specimen, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, St Lucia beach, 22 February 2010, NAF Miranda legit.

Morphometry.

TL, 179 µm; PhL, 41.5 µm; PhIJ at U25.6; FuL, 52.3 µm (adhesive tube 20.5 µm); Dorsal cuticular covering made up of seven columns of 43-45 overlapping, scales extending laterally as hydrofoil scales. Ten flat scales on the inner margin of each furcal branch. Two pairs of head sensory cirri, 17-28 µm in length, 1 pair of head tentacles, 11.5 µm in length.

Remarks.

morphometry and general appearance of the specimen from St. Lucia is in general accordance with data reported for the cosmopolitan Halichaetonotus squamosa ; in particular, the South African specimen appears of a size intermediate between individuals of the Mediterranean populations described by Wilke (1954) and Luporini et al. (1973) and specimens described from the Atlantic coast of France by Ruppert (1979).