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<p>Gastrotrichs are microscopic, aquatic, ciliated animals that live in marine, estuarine, freshwater, and occasionally limnoterrestrial environments. Phylum Gastrotricha is defined by several autapomorphic characters, one of which is the presence of an epicuticle that covers the entire body surface including all cilia. In some species, the ventral locomotory cilia are arranged in multiple, dense, and locally restricted aggregations, thus forming cirri. This condition is characteristic of the family Xenotrichulidae, which is globally distributed in littoral and sublittoral marine sediments. Historical observations have shown the cirri to possess either a single epicuticular lamina around individual cirri or an epicuticle around each cilium in a cirrus. Here, we use scanning and transmission electron microscopy to verify that <i>Draculiciteria tesselata</i> (Renaud-Mornant, 1968), the lone member of subfamily Draculiciterinae, lacks an epicuticle around the cirri but possesses a single lamina around each individual cilium. This contrasts with the condition of <i>Xenotrichula intermedia</i> (Xenotrichulinae), which possesses a single epicuticle around each cirrus but not around the individual cilia within a cirrus. In both species, all locomotory cilia within a cirrus arise from a clustered basal body domain and lack rostral rootlets, which differs from the condition in multiciliate locomotory cells where basal bodies are scattered and caudal and rostral rootlets are present. We use these observations to propose a new definition for locomotory cirri in Gastrotricha.</p>

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Observations on the ultrastructure of locomotory cirri in Gastrotricha

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月25日

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  • Thiago Quintão Araújo,
  • Sarah Atherton,
  • Rick Hochberg

摘要

Gastrotrichs are microscopic, aquatic, ciliated animals that live in marine, estuarine, freshwater, and occasionally limnoterrestrial environments. Phylum Gastrotricha is defined by several autapomorphic characters, one of which is the presence of an epicuticle that covers the entire body surface including all cilia. In some species, the ventral locomotory cilia are arranged in multiple, dense, and locally restricted aggregations, thus forming cirri. This condition is characteristic of the family Xenotrichulidae, which is globally distributed in littoral and sublittoral marine sediments. Historical observations have shown the cirri to possess either a single epicuticular lamina around individual cirri or an epicuticle around each cilium in a cirrus. Here, we use scanning and transmission electron microscopy to verify that Draculiciteria tesselata (Renaud-Mornant, 1968), the lone member of subfamily Draculiciterinae, lacks an epicuticle around the cirri but possesses a single lamina around each individual cilium. This contrasts with the condition of Xenotrichula intermedia (Xenotrichulinae), which possesses a single epicuticle around each cirrus but not around the individual cilia within a cirrus. In both species, all locomotory cilia within a cirrus arise from a clustered basal body domain and lack rostral rootlets, which differs from the condition in multiciliate locomotory cells where basal bodies are scattered and caudal and rostral rootlets are present. We use these observations to propose a new definition for locomotory cirri in Gastrotricha.