Integrated data analysis allows the establishment of a new, cosmopolitan genus of marine Macrodasyida (Gastrotricha).

ABSTRACT: Macrodasyida (phylum Gastrotricha) comprises 365 species distributed across 34 genera and 10 families. However, current classification is under revision due to the contradictory results of molecular and morphological cladistic analyses. Studies aimed at bridging the gaps took advantage of supplementary assessments of poorly known species and particularly from observations of new taxa showing original traits that could help to identify plesiomorphic character states in these anatomically diverse micrometazoa. We follow this path by describing three new interesting macrodasyidan species respectively from Italy, Brazil and Sweden. In many respects, the new species resemble most closely species of the genus Macrodasys; however, details of the external morphology, in combination with the differ

SUBMITTER: Todaro MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6541715 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature