WoRMS source details
Dal Zotto, M.; Leasi, F.; Todaro, M. (2018). A new species of Turbanellidae (Gastrotricha, Macrodasyida) from Jamaica, with a key to species of Paraturbanella. ZooKeys. 734: 105-119.
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10.3897/zookeys.734.23023 [view]
Dal Zotto, M.; Leasi, F.; Todaro, M.
2018
A new species of Turbanellidae (Gastrotricha, Macrodasyida) from Jamaica, with a key to species of Paraturbanella
ZooKeys
734: 105-119
Publication
Available for editors [request]
The study falls within the framework of a wider research programme aimed at investigating the gastrotrich
diversity of the Tropical North-Western Atlantic (TNWA). A new macrodasyidan gastrotrich is described
from fine-medium sand collected at Duncans Bay, Jamaica. The description is based on observations carried
out on living specimens using differential interference contrast microscopy. Paraturbanella xaymacana
sp. n., the third gastrotrich taxon reported from Jamaica, is a mid-sized species, up to 564 µm long, with
a feeble peribuccal swelling. The most obvious autapomorphic traits pertain to the testes and the male
pore, both of which are located approximately at mid body, rather than at- or near the pharyngo-intestinal
junction as occur in the other species of the genus. Additional differences with congeners are discussed and
a key to the Paraturbanella species is provided, in the hope it will be useful to both gastrotrich experts and
marine ecologists who discover these microscopic metazoans during their research.
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Paraturbanella xaymacana Dal Zotto, Leasi & Todaro, 2018 (original description)