An annotated checklist of the chaetonotidan Gastrotricha from India
Author
Chatterjee, Tapas
Near Hari Mandir Road, Hirapur, Dhanbad 826001, Jharkhand, India.
Author
Todaro, M. Antonio
0000-0002-6353-7281
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, via G. Campi 213 / D, I- 41125 Modena, Italy. antonio. todaro @ unimore. it; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 6353 - 7281
antonio.todaro@unimore.it
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-09-01
5027
3
332
350
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5027.3.2
1175-5326
5449646
FC464127-CED8-4F28-8A50-F8A0BCD08D49
Chaetonotus
(
Chaetonotus
)
elegans
Konsuloff, 1921
Records from
India
.
MAHARASTRA
: Aurangabad - Kagzipura lake—
Harkal & Mokashe (2013
,
2015
).
Habitat (as in Indian records).
Freshwater; among epiphytes.
Distribution
. European species; lately it was reported also from
India
(but see below the ‘Remarks’).
Remarks
. Recently, some gastrotrich specimens from the Kagzipura Lake have been identified as
C. elegans
(
Harkal & Mokashe 2013
,
2015
). According to the authors, specimens were fixed in formalin, stained with rose Bengal and identified with the aid of
Thorp & Covich’s (2001)
manual. Considering that the identification to species of formalin-fixed, chaetonotid gastrotrichs is very challenging even for the most experienced gastrotrich taxonomists, and that, most important, the identification key in
Thorp & Covich (2001)
refers 1) to American taxa only, and 2) with regards to the Gastrotricha, identification is solely at the genus level, we consider the Indian record of
C. elegans
by
Harkal & Mokashe (2013
,
2015
) to be unreliable. Consequently, this species should not be considered amongst the Indian fauna.