GASTROTRICHA   

                                                                     Northern Ohio   

                                                     John Lavelle      johnnlavelle@gmail.com

Identified by  Dr. Antonio Todero  Universita di Modena & Reggio Emilia    Italy

Order     Chaetonotida

      Family   Chaetonotidae

           Genus     Polymerurus

                      Species     Probably  Polymerurus rhomboides

           Genus    Chaetonotus

                  Subgenus   Hystricochaetonotus

                        Species    Probably   Chaetonotus schultzei

            Genus  Lepidochaetus

                         Species    Probably  Lepidochaetus zelinkai

             Genus    Heterolepidoderma

       Family   Neogosseidae 

            Genus    Neogossea

       Family   Dasydytidae

            Genus   Haltidytes 

            Genus   Dasyidytes

            Genus   Stylochaeta      

All the below  where found in one sample of the north pond of Kelley's Island in Lake Erie.  Ninety percent of the wetland surrounding the pond dries in the summer. The sample was not taken in the pond itself but in the surrounding wetlands. This known sample of Gastrotriches on the island

Cocerning the above photos 29 and 30.

"Cilia arranged in a particular fashion and long spines enable these forms to stay afloat and swim in the water column. 

Thanks for your images, they are particularly interesting because they show the capability of these animals to retract the head inside the trunk, similarly to what happens in taxa reunited in the clade Introvertata."  Antonio Todaro