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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 38(7)

Molecular phylogenetic position and description of a new genus and species of freshwater Chaetonotidae (Gastrotricha: Chaetonotida: Paucitubulatina), and the annotation of its mitochondrial genome

Leandro Gammuto A # , Valentina Serra A # , Giulio Petroni A B C and M. Antonio Todaro https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6353-7281 D E *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

B Centro Interdipartimentale di Microscopia Elettronica (CIME), Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

C Centro per l’Integrazione Della Strumentazione (CISUP), Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

D Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.

E National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), Palermo, Italy.

* Correspondence to: antonio.todaro@unimore.it
# These authors contributed equally to this paper

Handling Editor: Katrine Worsaae

Invertebrate Systematics 38, IS23059 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS23059
Submitted: 28 December 2023  Accepted: 19 June 2024  Published: 9 July 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.

Abstract

Chaetonotidae is the most diversified family of the entire phylum Gastrotricha; it comprises ~430 species distributed across 16 genera. The current classification, established mainly on morphological traits, has been challenged in recent years by phylogenetic studies, indicating that the cuticular ornamentations used to discriminate among species may be misleading when used to identify groupings, which has been the practice until now. Therefore, a consensus is developing toward implementing novel approaches to better define species identity and affiliation at a higher taxonomic ranking. Using an integrative morphological and molecular approach, including annotation of the mitogenome, we report on some freshwater gastrotrichs characterised by a mixture of two types of cuticular scales diagnostic of the genera Aspidiophorus and Heterolepidoderma. Our specimens’ overall anatomical characteristics find no correspondence in the taxa of these two genera, calling for their affiliation to a new species. Phylogenetic analyses based on the sequence of the ribosomal RNA genes of 96 taxa consistently found the new species unrelated to Aspidiophorus or Heterolepidoderma but allied with Chaetonotus aff. subtilis, as a subset of a larger clade, including mostly planktonic species. Morphological uniqueness and position along the non-monophyletic Chaetonotidae branch advocate erecting a new genus to accommodate the current specimens; consequently, the name Litigonotus ghinii gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The complete mitochondrial genome of the new taxon resulted in a single circular molecule 14,384 bp long, including 13 protein-coding genes, 17 tRNA genes and 2 rRNAs genes, showing a perfect synteny and collinearity with the only other gastrotrich mitogenome available, a possible hint of a high level of conservation in the mitochondria of Chaetonotidae.

ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9803F659-306F-4EC3-A73B-8C704069F24A

Keywords: biodiversity, fresh water, gastrotrichs, hairy-bellied worms, meiofauna, mitogenome, phylogeny, systematics, taxonomy.

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