Heterolepidoderma aff. majus Remane, 1927

Kolicka, Małgorzata, 2019, Gastrotricha - not only in sediments: new epiphytic species of Chaetonotida from the Jubilee Greenhouse of the Botanical Garden in Kraków, European Journal of Taxonomy 511, pp. 1-100 : 51-53

Heterolepidoderma aff. majus Remane, 1927

Fig. 35

Heterolepidoderma majus Remane, 1927: 313 –315, fig. 10.

Locus typicus

Germany.

Material examined

POLAND • 8adults; Kraków, Botanical Garden, Jubilee Greenhouse, sites 1–2 ; 50°03'38" N, 19°57'30"E; 15 Nov. 2013; M. Kolicka leg.; NHC (photomicrographs, also in the author's collection) .

Distribution

Nominal Heterolepidoderma majus Remane, 1927 is a species that is widely distributed in Europe, inter alia reported from: Bulgaria ( Valkanov 1937), France ( Kisielewski 1997a), Germany ( Remane 1927), Great Britain ( Martin 1990), Poland (e.g., Roszczak 1936; Kisielewska & Kisielewski 1986a, 1986b, 1986 c), Russia (Tretjakova 1989) and Romania ( Rudescu 1967); it has also been reported from Argentina ( Grosso & Drahg 1984), Brazil ( Kisielewski 1991), Canada ( Schwank 1990) and Japan ( Sudzuki 1971).

Remarks

The body length of adult specimens of Heterolepidoderma aff. majus Remane, 1927 varied from 111.1 to 131.4 μm; length of pharynx was between 31.9 and 40.3 μm; intestine length from 60.7 to 72.6 μm; 53–57 total longitudinal rows of scales (19–21D +10DL+8L+8–10LV+ 8V), with 23–27 scales in the central row ( Fig. 35 ).

In a previous paper, these specimens were reported as Heterolepidoderma majus Remane, 1927 ( Kisielewska et al. 2015). However, although the specimens seemed to fall within the range of variability as reported by Schwank ( 1990) and Kisielewski ( 1997 a), the presence of one pair of scales with four keels, nearly parallel to one another, did not allow, after a thorough analysis, the identification of the specimens from the Jubilee Greenhouse as representatives of the nominal species H. majus . The question of the species affinities of these individuals demands further analyses and studies of intra- and interspecific variability within Heterolepidoderma .

Figures

Fig. 35. Heterolepidoderma aff. majus Remane, 1927. Adult specimen. Bright field microphotographs. A. Habitus. B. Dorsal view. C. Ventral view.