Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5575 No. 1: 22 Jan. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-01-22
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5575.1.10
Page range: 177-193
Abstract views: 73
PDF downloaded: 29

Key to sessile gnesiotrochan rotifers: Lacinularia and Sinantherina (Monogononta; Flosculariidae)

Department of Biology; Ripon College; Ripon; WI; 54971; USA
Department of Biology; Ripon College; Ripon; WI; 54971; USA
University of Massachusetts Lowell; Lowell; MA; 01854; USA
Department of Biological Sciences; University of Texas at El Paso; El Paso; TX; 79968; USA
Department of Biology; Ripon College; Ripon; WI; 54971; USA
Rotifera Coloniality larval behavior identification oviferon planktonic solitary warts

Abstract

Understanding the general biology, biodiversity, ecology, and evolutionary history of organisms necessitates correct identification. Found worldwide in fresh, brackish, and some marine waters, rotifers can be difficult to identify due to their small size, complex characteristics, and dearth of keys to their identification. Moreover, many species lack a hard body wall (i.e., illoricate species), thus they are nearly impossible to identify when preserved. As a result detailed study of many illoricate rotifers is wanting. This is especially acute for the sessile rotifers where quality illustrations, either as line art or light or scanning electron photomicrographs, of adults and trophi is deficient. This leads to a serious impediment in providing a comprehensive accounting for some species. Lacinularia and Sinantherina (Monogononta; Gnesiotrocha; Flosculariidae) are two sessile genera in which the literature provides inadequate treatment. In this contribution we (1) provide simple, dichotomous keys for the identification of all valid species of both genera and (2) present collated information on their morphology thereby detailing where additional research is needed. Both keys focus on easily observable characters of adult female morphology, including features of their coronae, antennae, colony formation behaviors, and presence/absence of eyespots in the adults. We hope that our effort promotes additional research on these two genera, including better documentation of their trophi and general body morphology.

 

References

  1. Banik, S. (1996) New records of sessile rotifers from freshwater fishponds of Tripura II. Proceedings of the Indian Natural Science Academy, B62, 111–116.
  2. Bhardwaj, S.C. (1985) Studies on the morphology of five species of colonial rotifers. Uttar Pradesh Journal of Zoology, 5, 6–13.
  3. Bhardwaj, S.C. & Dattagupta, A.K. (1984) Life cycle and colony formation in a few species of rotifers of the order Flosculariacea. In: Dattagupta, A.K. & Maleyvar, R.P. (Eds.), Proceedings of the IV All India Symposium of Environmental Biologists, India, 1984, pp. 74–80.
  4. Brown, P.D. & Walsh, E.J. (2019) Genome size and lifestyle in gnesiotrochan rotifers. Hydrobiologia, 844, 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3873-8
  5. Canella, M.F. (1952) Osservazioni su Sinantherina semibulla (Thorpe) e su altri Flosculariacea. Annali dell’Universita de Ferrara, Nuova Serie, Sezione III Biologia Animale, 1, 1–257.
  6. Champ, P. (1978) Dynamique d’une population d’un Rotifère épiphyte thermophile (Sinantherina socialis) en présence de pollution thermique. Archiv für Hydrobiologie, 82, 213–231.
  7. Champ, P. & Pourriot, R. (1977a) Particularities biologiques et ecologiques du Rotifere Sinantherina socialis (Linne). Hydrobiologia, 55, 55–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00034805
  8. Champ, P. & Pourriot, R. (1977b) Reproductive cycle in Sinantherina socialis. Archives für Hydrobiologie, 8, 184–186.
  9. Collins, R.A. & Cruickshank, R.H. (2013) The seven deadly sins of DNA barcoding. Molecular Ecology Resources, 13, 969–975. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12046
  10. Davies, N., Lafleur, A., Hochberg, R., Walsh, E.J. & Wallace, R.L. (2024) Key to sessile gnesiotrochan rotifers: Families, monospecific species in Flosculariidae, species of Atrochidae, Conochilidae, and Limnias. Zootaxa, 5397 (4), 497–520. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5397.4.3
  11. Dioni, W. (1966) Notas sobre rotiferos sociales. PHYSIS, 26, 341–383.
  12. Edmondson, W.T. (1939) New species of Rotatoria, with notes on heterogonic growth. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 58, 459–472. https://doi.org/10.2307/3222788
  13. Edmondson, W.T. (1940) The sessile Rotatoria of Wisconsin. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 59, 433–459. https://doi.org/10.2307/3222991
  14. Edmondson, W.T. (1944) Ecological studies of sessile Rotatoria, Part I. Factors affecting distribution. Ecological Monographs, 14, 32–66. https://doi.org/10.2307/1961631
  15. Edmondson, W.T. (1945) Ecological studies of sessile Rotatoria, Part II. Dynamics of populations and social structure. Ecological Monographs, 15, 141–172. https://doi.org/10.2307/1948601
  16. Edmondson, W.T. (1948) Rotatoria from Penikese Island, Massachusetts, with a description of Ptygura agassizi n. sp. The Biological Bulletin, 94, 263–266. https://doi.org/10.2307/1538252
  17. Edmondson, W.T. (1949) A formula key to the Rotatorian genus Ptygura. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 68, 127–135. https://doi.org/10.2307/3223262
  18. Edmondson, W.T. (1959) Rotifera. In: Edmondson, W.T. (Ed.), Freshwater Biology. 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, New York, pp. 420–494.
  19. Ejsmont-Karabin, J. (2019) Does the world need faunists? Based on rotifer (Rotifera) occurrence reflections on the role of faunistic research in ecology. Hydrobiology, 104, 49–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/iroh.201901991
  20. Ejsmont-Karabin, J. & Karpowicz, M. (2021) Rotifera in lake subhabitats. Aquatic Ecology, 55, 1285–1296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-020-09818-1
  21. Felix, A., Stevens, M.E. & Wallace, R.L. (1995) Unpalatability of a colonial rotifer, Sinantherina socialis, to small zooplanktivorous fishes. Invertebrate Biology, 114, 139–144. https://doi.org/10.2307/3226885
  22. Fontaneto, D., Barbosa, A.M., Segers, H. & Pautasso, M. (2012) The ‘rotiferologist’ effect and other global correlates of species richness in monogonont rotifers. Ecography, 35, 174–182. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2011.06850.x
  23. Fontaneto, D. & De Smet, W.H. (2015) Rotifera. In: Schmidt-Rhaesa, A. (Ed.), Handbook of Zoology: Gastrotricha, Cycloneuralia and Gnathifera. Vol. 3. Gastrotricha and Gnathifera. De Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 217–300. [http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/180465?format=G] https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110274271.217
  24. Fontaneto, D., Melone, G. & Wallace, R.L. (2003) Morphology of Floscularia ringens (Rotifera, Monogononta) from egg to adult. Invertebrate Biology, 122, 231–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7410.2003.tb00087.x
  25. Franch, V. (2021) First record for the Palearctic region of a rare rotifer from the Ptygura elsteri group (Rotifera: Monogononta: Flosculariaceae: Flosculariidae) with description and biogeography of a new species: Ptygura innominata n. sp. Biogeographia – The Journal of Integrative Biogeography, 36, a012. https://doi.org/10.21426/b636052746
  26. Franch, V., Meksuwan, P. & Wallace, R.L. (2024) The dorsal plate is a critical feature in the reassessment of the rotiferan genus Ptygura (Monogononta; Gnesiotrocha; Flosculariidae). Zootaxa, 5425 (1), 107–123. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5428.1.5
  27. Garcia, M.A. (2004) The asexual life history of the colonial rotifer, Sinantherina socialis (Linnaeus). Ph.D. dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Biology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, 129 pp. [UMI Number: 3125197]
  28. Gunter, D.D. & Knight Jr., L.A. (1978) Observations of the rotifer Sinantherina semibullata (Thorpe) from Ross Barnett reservoir, Mississippi. Egyptian Journal of Microbiology, 13, 99–106.
  29. Hochberg, A. & Hochberg, R. (2017) Musculature of the sessile rotifer Stephanoceros fimbriatus (Rotifera: Gnesiotrocha: Collothecaceae) with details on larval metamorphosis and development of the infundibulum. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 268, 84–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2016.09.002
  30. Hochberg, R., Hochberg, A. & Chan, C. (2015) Ultrastructure of the rotifer integument: peculiarities of Sinantherina socialis (Monogononta: Gnesiotrocha). Invertebrate Biology, 134, 181–188. https://doi.org/10.1111/ivb.12085
  31. Hochberg, R. & Lilley, G.W. (2010) Neuromuscular organization of the freshwater colonial rotifer, Sinantherina socialis, and its implications for understanding the evolution of coloniality in Rotifera. Zoomorphology, 129, 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-010-0108-6
  32. Hochberg, R. & Litvaitis, M.K. (2000) Functional morphology of the muscles in Philodina sp. (Rotifera: Bdelloidea). Hydrobiologia, 432, 57–64. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004003509017
  33. Hochberg, R., O’Brien, S. & Puleo, A. (2010) Behavior, metamorphosis, and muscular organization of the predatory rotifer Acyclus inquietus (Rotifera, Monogononta). Invertebrate Biology, 129, 210–219. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7410.2010.00202.x
  34. Hortal, J., de Bello, F., Diniz-Filho, J.A.F., Lewinsohn, T.M., Lobo, J.M. & Ladle, R.J. (2015) Seven shortfalls that beset large-scale knowledge of biodiversity. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 46, 523–549. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-112414-054400
  35. Jersabek, C.D., De Smet, W.H., Hinz, C., Fontaneto, D., Hussey, C.G., Michaloudi, E., Wallace, R.L. & Segers, H. (2018) List of Available Names in Zoology, Candidate Part Phylum Rotifera, species-group names established before 1 January 2000. Available from: https://archive.org/details/LANCandidatePartSpeciesRotifera (accessed 7 August 2024)
  36. Jersabek, C.D. & Leitner, M.F. (2013) The Rotifer World Catalog. World Wide Web electronic publication. Available from http://www.rotifera.hausdernatur.at/Species/Index/222 (accessed 2024.03.07)
  37. Kordbacheh, A., Wallace, R.L. & Walsh, E.J. (2018) Evidence supporting cryptic species within two sessile microinvertebrates, Limnias melicerta and L. ceratophylli (Rotifera, Gnesiotrocha). PLoS ONE, 13, e0205203. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205203
  38. Koste, W. (1978) Rotatoria. Die Rädertiere Mitteleuropas. 2 Vols. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin, 673 pp.
  39. Koste, W., Janetzky, W. & Vareschi, E. (1995) Zur Kenntnis der limnischen Rotatorienfauna Jamaikas (Rotifera). Teil 11. Osnabrücker Naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen, 20/21, 399–433.
  40. Kutikova, L.A. (1995) Larval metamorphosis in sessile rotifers. Hydrobiologia, 313/314, 133–138. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00025942
  41. Kutikova, L.A. (2007) Пять видов коловраток семейства Flosculariidae (Rotifera), их личинки и метаморфоз [Five species of rotifers of the family Flosculariidae (Rotifera), their larvae and metamorphosis]. Зоология беспозвоночных, 4, 161–172. [in Russian] https://doi.org/10.15298/invertzool.04.2.05
  42. Lafleur, A., Davies, N., Hochberg, R., Walsh, E.J. & Wallace, R.L. (2024) Key to sessile rotifers in genus Floscularia (Monogononta; Gnesiotrocha; Flosculariidae). Zootaxa, 5471 (4), 401–421. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5471.4.1
  43. Magnusson, W.E. (1985) Habitat selection, parasites and injuries in Amazonian crocodilians. Amazoniana, 9, 193–204.
  44. Meksuwan, P. (2015) Systematics and phylogeny of sessile rotifers (Rotifera, Monogononta, Gnesiotrocha). In: Biology. Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, pp. 1–140.
  45. Meksuwan, P., Jaturapruek, R. & Maiphae, S. (2018) Two new species of genus Limnias (Rotifera, Gnesiotrocha) from Thailand. ZooKeys, 787, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.787.28098
  46. Meksuwan, P., Pholpunthin, P. & Segers, H. (2011) Diversity of sessile rotifers (Gnesiotrocha, Monogononta, Rotifera) in Thale Noi Lake, Thailand. Zootaxa, 2997 (1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2997.1.1
  47. Melone, G., Ricci, C. & Segers, H. (1998) The trophi of Bdelloidea (Rotifera): a comparative study across the class. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 76, 1755–1765. https://doi.org/10.1139/z98-117
  48. Obertegger, U., Cieplinski, A., Raatz, M. & Colangeli, P. (2018) Switching between swimming states in rotifers – case study Keratella cochlearis. Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology, 51, 159–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10236244.2018.1503541
  49. Poggenpol, M.J. (1872) O novoi formie kolonialnoi kolovratku Strophosphaera isamailoviensis. Izvestija Imperatorskogo Obshchestva Lyubitelei Jestestvoznanija, Antropologii i Etnografii pri Moskovskom Universitjete, 10, 9–14. [in Russian]
  50. Pourriot, R. (1979) Rotiféres du sol. Revue d’Ecologie et de Biologie du Sol, 16, 279–312.
  51. Pourriot, R., Rouyer, G. & Peltier, M. (1972) Prolifération de rotifères épiphytes et pollution thermique dans la Loire. Bulletin Français de Pisciculture, 244, 111–118. https://doi.org/10.1051/kmae:1972012
  52. Rico-Martínez, R. & Walsh, E.J. (2013) Sexual reproductive biology of a colonial rotifer Sinantherina socialis (Rotifera: Monogononta): Do mating strategies vary between colonial and solitary rotifer species? Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology, 46, 419–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/10236244.2013.834110
  53. Sa-Ardrit, P., Pholpunthin, P. & Segers, H. (2013) A checklist of the freshwater rotifer fauna of Thailand (Rotifera, Monogononta, Bdelloidea). Journal of Limnology, 72, 361–375. https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2013.s2.e18
  54. Sanoamuang, L. & Savatenalinton, S. (2001) The rotifer fauna of Lake Kud-Thing, a shallow lake in Nong Khai Province, northeast Thailand. Hydrobiologia, 446/447, 297–304. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017588331347
  55. Segers, H., Meksuwan, P. & Sanoamuang, L. (2010) New records of sessile rotifers (Phylum Rotifera: Flosculariacea, Collothecacea) from Southeast Asia. Belgian Journal of Zoology, 140, 235–240. https://doi.org/10.26496/bjz.2010.174
  56. Segers, H. & Shiel, R.J. (2008) Diversity of cryptic Metazoa in Australian freshwaters: a new genus and two new species of sessile rotifer (Rotifera, Monogononta, Gnesiotrocha, Flosculariidae). Zootaxa, 1750 (1), 19–31. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1750.1.2
  57. Segers, H. & Wallace, R.L. (2001) Phylogeny and classification of the Conochilidae (Rotifera, Monogononta, Flosculariacea). Zoologica Scripta, 30, 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1463-6409.2001.00048.x
  58. Serra, M., Snell, T. & Wallace, R.L. (2018) Reproduction, overview by phylogeny: Rotifera. In: Encyclopedia of Reproduction, 6 , pp. 513–521. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809633-8.20646-8
  59. Shephard, J. (1896) A new rotifer—Lacinularia elongata. The Victorian Naturalist, 13, 22–24.
  60. Shephard, J. (1899) A new rotifer Lacinularia striolata, with note on L. pedunculata. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Melbourne, New Series, 12, 20–35.
  61. Smith, T.M. & Knight Jr., L.A. (1971) Studies on the lipid class and higher fatty acid composition in Sinantherina semibullata Thorpe (Aschelminthes). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part B: Comparative Biochemistry, 40, 459–462. https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-0491(71)90230-6
  62. Surface, F.M. (1906) The formation of new colonies of the rotifer Megalotrocha alboflavicans Ehr. Biological Bulletin, 11, 182–192. https://doi.org/10.2307/1535550
  63. Thorpe, V.G. (1889) Description of a new species of Megalotrocha. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 613–616. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2818.1889.tb05863.x
  64. Thorpe, V.G. (1893) The Rotifera of China. Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 13, 145–152. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2818.1893.tb01272.x
  65. Tiefenbacher, L. (1972) Beiträge zur Biologie und Ökologie sessiler Rotatorien unter besonder Berücksichtigung des Gehäusebaues und der Regenerationsfähigkeit. Archiv für Hydrobiologie Beiheft, 71, 31–78.
  66. Vasilikopoulos, A., Herlyn, H., Fontaneto, D., Wilson, C.G., Nowell, R.W., Flot, J.-F., Barraclough, T.G. & Van Doninck, K. (2024) Whole-genome analyses converge to support the Hemirotifera hypothesis within Syndermata (Gnathifera). Hydrobiologia, 851, 2795–2826. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05451-9
  67. Vasisht, H.S. & Dawar, B.L. (1970) The anatomy and histology of the rotifer Lacinularia flosculosa Müller. Research Bulletin of the Panjab University, New Series, 21, 361–377.
  68. Vidrine, M.F., McLaughlin, R.E. & Willis, O.R. (1985) Free-swimming colonial rotifers (Monogononta: Flosculariacea: Flosculariidae) in Southwestern Louisiana rice fields. Freshwater Invertebrate Biology, 4, 187–193. https://doi.org/10.2307/1467160
  69. Wallace, R.L. (1975) Larval behavior of the sessile rotifer Ptygura beauchampi (Edmondson). Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung Limnologie, 19, 2811–2815. https://doi.org/10.1080/03680770.1974.11896382
  70. Wallace, R.L. (1980) Ecology of sessile rotifers. Hydrobiologia, 73, 181–193. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00019445
  71. Wallace, R.L. (1987) Coloniality in the phylum Rotifera. Hydrobiologia, 147, 141–155. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00025737
  72. Wallace, R.L. (1993) Presence of anisotropic (birefringent) crystalline structures in embryonic and juvenile monogonont rotifers. Hydrobiologia, 255/256, 71–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1606-0_9
  73. Wallace, R.L. (2002) Rotifers: exquisite metazoans. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 42, 660–667. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/42.3.660
  74. Wallace, R.L., Dash, K.M., Araujo, T.Q., Walsh, E.J., Das, S. & Hochberg, R. (2023) Ultrastructural characterization of the putative defensive glands (warts) in the sessile, colonial rotifer Sinantherina socialis (Gnesiotrocha; Flosculariidae). Zoologischer Anzeiger, 304, 10–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2023.03.001
  75. Wallace, R.L., Hochberg, R. & Walsh, E.J. (2024) The undiscovered country: ten grand challenges in rotifer biology. Hydrobiology, 851, 3225–3248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05247-x
  76. Wallace, R.L. & Snell, T.W. (2010) Rotifera. In: Thorp, J. & Covich, A. (Eds.), Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates. Elsevier, Inc., Amsterdam, pp. 173–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374855-3.00008-X
  77. Wallace, R.L., Snell, T.W., Ricci, C. & Nogrady, T. (2006) Rotifera. Vol. 1. Biology, Ecology and Systematics. 2nd Edition. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, 299 pp.
  78. Wallace, R.L., Snell, T.W. & Smith, H.A. (2015) Phylum Rotifera. In: Thorp, J.H. & Rogers, D.C. (Eds.), Thorp and Covich’s Freshwater Invertebrates. Elsevier, Waltham, Massachusetts, pp. 225–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385026-3.00013-9
  79. Walsh, E.J., Salazar, M., Remirez, J., Moldes, O. & Wallace, R.L. (2006) Predation by invertebrate predators on the colonial rotifer Sinantherina socialis. Invertebrate Biology, 125, 325–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7410.2006.00064.x
  80. Weber, E.-F. (1898) Faune Rotatorienne du bassin du Léman. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, V, 263–785, pls. 210–225. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.49550
  81. Wright, H.G.S. (1950) A contribution to the study of Floscularia ringens. Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club, Series 4, 3, 103–116.
  82. Wright, H.G.S. (1959) Development of the peduncle in a sessile rotifer. Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club, Series 4, 5, 231–234.
  83. Yang, H. & Hochberg, R. (2018a) Ultrastructural and elemental characterization of the extracorporeal tube of the sessile rotifer Floscularia conifera (Rotifera: Gnesiotrocha). Invertebrate Biology, 137, 319–328. https://doi.org/10.1111/ivb.12230
  84. Yang, H. & Hochberg, R. (2018b) Ultrastructure of the extracorporeal tube and “cement glands” in the sessile rotifer Limnias melicerta (Rotifera: Gnesiotrocha). Zoomorphology, 137, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-017-0371-x
  85. Yang, H., Hochberg, R., Walsh, E.J. & Wallace, R.L. (2021) Ultrastructure of the extracorporeal secretions of four sessile species of Rotifera (Gnesiotrocha) with observations on the chemistry of the gelatinous tube. Invertebrate Biology, 140, e12318. https://doi.org/10.1111/ivb.12318