Authors: H. Visser & H.H. Veldhuijzen van Zanten
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Scientific name:

Gastrotricha

Vernacular name:

Hairybacks, Bauchhärlinge


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phylum Entoprocta - phylum Entoprocta
family Dreissenidae - Zoetwatermossels; Driehoeksmossels
family Dreissenidae - Zebra Mussels
family Dreissenidae - Dreikantmuscheln

(Hairybacks)

Description
Gastrotrichs superficially resemble ciliated Protozoa but their internal structure resembles that of rotifers. Some species are smaller than large Protozoa, usually less than 250 öm in length, rarely exceeding 500 öm (a species of Chaetonotus ).
These animals are of an characteristic ovoid-tenpin-shape, with the head rounded, bearing long sensory hairs, the neck-region narrow, and the body streamlined, terminating in a forked structure, the caudal furca. Adhesive tubes (usually two) restricted to the tips of the furca or absent.
The dorsal surface may be smooth, scaly or the scales are elongated into spines.
The ventral surface is flattened, the ventral epidermal cells are monociliated or multiciliated (family Xenotrichulidae), usually arranged in tufts or longitudinal or transverse rows (locomotor cilia).

Reproduction
In freshwater species males are unknown, and reproduction is by means of parthenogenesis.

Ecology
Gastrotrichs can be found on or amongst submerged vegetation or on the muddy soil of all kinds of shallow and preferably stagnant waters. Here they feed on detritus or hunt for single-celled algae.

Taxonomy
Order Chaetonotida; Suborder Paucitubulatina.
-Family Chaetonotidae
Genera: Aspidiophorus Voigt, 1904; Chaetonotus Ehrenberg, 1830; Fluxiderma d'Hondt, 1974; Heterolepidoderma Remane, 1927; Ichtydium Ehrenberg, 1830; Lepidodermella Blake, 1933; Polymerurus Remane, 1927.
-Family Dichaeturidae
Genera: Dichaetura Lauterborn, 1913; Marinellina .
-Family Neogosseidae
Genus: Neogossea Remane, 1927.
-Family Dasyditidae
Genera: Chitonodytes Remane, 1936; Dasydites Gosse, 1851; Haltidytes Remane, 1936; Setopus Grünspan, 1908; Stylochaeta Hlava, 1904.

Distribution
The majority of European species have been reported from the mainland, including a large number of introduced species. Only a dozen or so species were reported from Britain, and even less from Ireland, Iceland and northern Scandinavia.

(after Mellanby, 1963; d'Hondt, 1978; Macan, 1981; Hummon, 1982; Fitter and Manuel, 1995)

phylum Gastrotricha (Hairybacks)
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