The Gastrotricha are meiofaunal aschelminthes mostly occurring in marine sands and in lentic freshwaters.
Keywords: gastrotricha; meiofauna; aschelminthes; ultrastructure; benthos
Gastrotricha
Patrick JS Boaden, The Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Published online: May 2005
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001589
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Figure 1. Gastrotricha. General appearance and ultrastructure. (a) A macrodasyid Turbanella sp.; (b) a paucitubulatinid Neodasys sp.; (c) a multitubulatinid Chaetonotus sp.; all dorsal view and to upper scale; (d) diagram of electron microscope transverse section of Turbanella adhesive tubule showing outer lamellae, tegument with striated and granular layer, cilium and microvilli of sensory cell, adhesive cell with large secretory droplets and releaser cell with small droplets.
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| Further Reading | |
| Giribet G, Distel DL, Polz M, Sterrer W and Wheeler WC (2000) Triploblastic relationships with emphasis on the acoelomates and the position of Gnathostomulida, Cycliophora, Plathelminthes, and Chaetognatha: a combined approach of 18S rDNA sequences and morphology. Systematic Biology 49: 539–562. | |
| Hochberg R and Litvaitis MK (2000) Phylogeny of Gastrotricha: a morphology-based framework of gastrotrich relationships. Biological Bulletin 198: 299–305. | |
| Wirz A, Pucciarelli S, Miceli C, Tongiorgi P and Balsamo M (1999) Novelty in phylogeny of gastrotricha: evidence from 18S rRNA gene. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 13: 314–318. | |
