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Vol. 44 No. 1, 2005
On a New Seison Grube, 1861 from Coastal Waters of Kenya, with a Reappraisal of the Classification of the Seisonida (Rotifera)
Martin V. Sørensen1,*, Hendrik Segers2, and Peter Funch3
1Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
2Royal
Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences, Freshwater Laboratory,
Vautierstaat 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium. E-mail:
hendrik.segers@naturalsciences.be
3Department of
Ecology and Genetics, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of
Aarhus, Universitetsparken, Building 135, DK-8000 Århus C, Denmark.
E-mail: peter.funch@biology.au.dk
Martin V. Sørensen, Hendrik Segers, and Peter Funch (2005) On
occasion of the discovery of a new species of a marine epizoic rotifer
of the enigmatic Seisonidae, from Gazi Bay in Kenya, we reassessed the
classification of the group. The taxon was until now known to contain
only 2 species, viz. Seison nebaliae and S. annulatus, both of which live attached to Crustacea of the genus Nebalia. The new species, Seison africanus
sp. nov., was diagnosed by its species-specific trophi morphology and
relatively small size. A comparison with the 2 other known seisonid
species reveals a sister group relationship between S. africanus sp. nov. and S. nebaliae,
based on similarities in trophi structure and, accordingly, an assumed
feeding mode and relationship with their hosts. The fundamental
differences between these 2 commensal sister taxa and the ectoparasitic
S. annulatus prompted a reevaluation of the generic classification of these animals. Accordingly, we propose to reestablish the genus Paraseison Plate, 1887 in order to accommodate P. annulatus (Claus, 1876) (comb. nov.).
Key words: Gnathifera, Morphology, Taxonomy, Trophi, Marine rotifers.
*Correspondence: E-mail: mvsorensen@bi.ku.dk
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