Intertidal Marine Gastrotricha from Colombia

Turbanella corderoi is reported and Cephalodasys miniceraus, n. sp., and Chaetonotus chicous, n. sp., are described from fairly uniform, fine sand of El Rodadero Beach, Santa Marta, Colombia. Cephalodasys miniceraus can be distinguished from other members of the genus by the following characters: presence on the head of minute hornlike lobes bearing ciliary tufts, the presence of two to four adhesive tubes per ventroanterior foot, and the bluntly tapered posterior end with three to five pairs of posterior adhesive tubes that are markedly larger in size than the tubes of the lateral margins. Chaeonotus chicous can be distinguished from other members of the maximus-group by the following characters: presence of five-lobed head; presence of complete dorsal scalation, consisting of overlapping oval scales bearing simple spines that increase in length posteriorly from short to medium (5-15 μm); and continuation of cuticular armature onto the furcal bases.