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 different lay-out of the reproductive system and the tiny spermatozoa lacking a visible flagellum, suggest they belong to a new genus, possibly in the family Macrodasyidae. These hypotheses are supported by the phylogenetic relationships of 47 taxa inferred from analyses of the 18S rRNA gene, which found the new species clustering with Thaidasys tongiorgii in a subset of a larger clade containing Macrodasys. Accordingly, the establishment of the following taxa is proposed Kryptodasys gen. nov., K. marcocurinii sp. nov., K. carlosrochai sp. nov. and K. ulfjondeliusi sp. nov.