Marine Gastrotricha from the State of Kuwait (Arabian Gulf)

Within the framework of a meiofauna monitoring programme endorsed by the EPA of Kuwait, we conducted a faunistic survey aimed at shedding light on the diversity of marine gastrotrichs along the coast of the State of Kuwait; results will also represent the first contribution to the knowledge of these microscopic protostomes from the Arabian Gulf. During three sampling campaigns carried out in the early spring of 2005-2007 we sampled twelve locations, seven along the central and south regions of the State and five on the islands of Failaka and Qarooh. Samples, consisting of fine to coarse sand, were collected during low tide from the littoral and/or the shallow sublittoral areas and brought ASAP to the EPA’s laboratory in Salmiya (Kuwait) or to Modena (Italy); gastrotrichs were studied in vivo or surveyed after being prepared for Scanning Electron Microscopy. Faunistic analysis found 30 putative species from fifteen sites, yielding a total of 82 records (species x site) and an average of 6.0 ± 3.5 species per location. Higher species richness was found at the southern locations and at SE Failaka. Eighteen species in eleven genera and five families belong to the Macrodasyida and twelve species in seven genera and two families belong to the Chaetonotida. Apart from a handful of cosmopolitan taxa (e.g., Urodasys viviparus, Draculiciteria tesselata, Chaetonotus apolemmus) most of the Kuwaiti species appear undescribed taxa. The shallow sedimentary basin witch form the Arabic Gulf only re-flooded during the Holocene transgression, so that the present day marine biota is only of recent origin (ca 20000 y); therefore, it seems unlikely that the new species represent taxa endemic to the Gulf; future research in the Arabian Sea should unveil the original stock.