New records of Gastrotricha from Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Identification of Gastrotricha from Sempre-Vivas National Park, Minas Gerais, is reported here for the first time. The samples from 29 locations yielded new records for Brazil. These are species of the genus Marinellina Ruttner-Kolisko (Ruttner-Kolisko A. 1955. Rheomorpha neiswestnovae und Marinellina flagellata, zwei phylogenetisch interessante Wurmtypen aus dem Süsswasserpsammon. Österr Zool. 6:55–69) reported only in the original description in Europe and never collected again, belonging to the order Macrodasyida, and eight more species of Chaetonotida. One new form of Chaetonotus acanthocephalus is described; five species appear to be previously unknown taxa. One species is first identified from the state of Minas Gerais.

Keywords:

• meiofauna
• zoobenthos
• Gastrotricha
• first records
• biodiversity

Acknowledgments

We express our gratitude to the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) and the Rede Comcerrado for financial support (CNPq – 50.6121/2008-09), to Daniel Salles Corrêa de Oliveira, Sempre-Vivas National Park, for helping in field excursions, to Maria Balsamo for checking some of the identifications, and Anete P. Lourenço, Alexander Kieneke and the editors for suggestions that greatly improved the paper. Janet W. Reid edited the English text.