A new Tetranchyroderma species (Gastrotricha, Macrodasyida, Thaumastodermatidae) from the Canary Islands (Spain)

Shallow sublittoral sediment collected from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) yielded several specimens of an undescribed thaumastodermatid gastrotrich species along with some specimens of Paraturbanella teissieri and one unidentifiable specimen belonging to the genus Crasiella. The paper deals with the description of Tetranchyroderma canariense sp. nov. The new species, which appears closely allied with T thysanogaster, Tetranchyroderma sp. 4 and Tetranchyroderma sp. 5 (Valbonesi & Luporini 1984), is characterized by: 1. a complete cuticular covering made up of tetrancres, that are larger on the head and rear trunk region; 2. caudal pedicles each made up of two adhesive tubes; 3. up to 10 anterior adhesive tubes; up to 20 ventrolateral adhesive tubes per side, and two clusters of ventral adhesive tubes of 4 tubes each, located in the posterior trunk region. This represents the first record of marine Gastrotricha from the Canary Archipelago and the second marine gastrotrich species from Spain.