Contribution to the freshwater gastrotrich fauna of wetland areas of southwestern Ontario (Canada) with redescriptions of seven species and a check-list for North America
Author
Schwank, Peter
Author
Kånneby, Tobias
text
Zootaxa
2014
3811
4
463
490
journal article
45585
10.11646/zootaxa.3811.4.3
6ab9cc07-eac7-4d4b-9b1d-c994697cd39f
1175-5326
230701
8D217288-2C30-4FD8-921D-5EDBEE3C02C9
Ichthydium
sp. C4
Localities.
A pond near Galt Creek, Puslinch district.
Material.
1 specimen
.
A very slender and elongate species, 130–150 µm in total body length. Head slightly five-lobed with two pairs of short sensory ciliary tufts. Head barely delimited from trunk by a narrow neck constriction. Posterior trunk region very conspicuous, extensible like a telescope or spyglass. The furcal branches with adhesive tubes very thin and pointed. The cuticle is completely naked and very thin. Two thick tubercles are situated on either side of the furca, both with a sensory bristle. Anterior dorsal sensory bristles absent. Pharynx cylindrical approximately 1/5 of the total body length (26–30 µm). The animals crawled very fast and readily attached to the substratum by their adhesive tubes.
This taxon is definitely distinct from all known species of
Ichthydium
and it is surely a new species to science. It resembles species within the subgenus
Ichthydium (Ichthydium)
and is probably morphologically closely related to elongate species such as
Ichthydium maximum
Greuter, 1917
and
Ichthydium leptum
Brunson, 1949
.