Gastrotricha of Sweden – Biodiversity and Phylogeny

Summary

This project deals with Gastrotricha, a small phylum of worm-like aquatic invertebrate animals with a marine origin. The group is cosmopolitan and a common component of the meiofauna. Approximately 850 species have been described to date. The project specifically aims at describing the Swedish marine and freshwater fauna, but also at a better understanding of the relationships within the group. I also try to answer questions related to distribution and dispersal of gastrotrichs between different environments and habitats.

This research is funded by Swedish Taxonomy Initiative (STI)

Project Participants at NRM

Tobias Kånneby (Principal investigator)

Selected Publications

Kånneby, T. (2016). Phylum Gastrotricha. In: Thorp, J., Rogers, D. C. (Eds.), Keys to Nearctic Fauna: Thorp and Covich’s Freshwater Invetebrates, 115-131.

Kånneby, T. (2015). A redescription of Chaetonotus (Primochaetus) veronicae Kånneby, 2013 (Gastrotricha: Chaetonotidae). Zootaxa 4027, 442-446.

Kånneby, T. & Todaro, M. A. (2015). The phylogenetic position of Neogosseidae (Gastrotricha: Chaetonotida) and the origin of planktonic Gastrotricha.

Kånneby, T., Hochberg, R. (2015). Phylum Gastrotricha. In: Thorp, J., Rogers, D. C. (Eds.), Ecology and General Biology: Thorp and Covich’s Freshwater Invetebrates, 211-223.

Kånneby, T. Bernvi, D. C., Jondelius, U. (2014). Distribution, delimitation, and description of species of Archaphanostoma (Acoela). Zoologica Scripta 44(2), 218-231. doi:10.1111/zsc.12092

Kånneby, T., Wicksten, M. K. (2014). First record of the enigmatic genus Redudasys (Gastrotricha: Macrodasyida) from the northern hemisphere. Zoosystema 36(4), 723-734.

Schwank, P., Kånneby, T. (2014). Contribution to the freshwater gastrotrich fauna of wetland areas of southwestern Ontario (Canada) with redescriptions of seven species and a check-list for North America. Zootaxa 3811(4), 463-490.

Kånneby, T., Atherton, S., Hochberg, R. 2014. Two new species of Musellifer (Gastrotricha: Chaetonotida) from Florida and Tobago and the systematic placement of the genus within Paucitubulatina. Marine Biology Research, 10(10), 983-995.

Strand, M., Herrera-Bachiller, A., Nygren, A., Kånneby, T. (2014). A new nemertean species: what are useful characters for ribbon worm descriptions? Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 94, 317-330.