Seek and you shall find: new species of the rare genus Ornamentula (Gastrotricha: Chaetonotida) and first record outside of type-locality

Abstract

Ornamentula Kisielewski, 1991 is a monospecific genus in Order Chaetonotida. The sole species, O. paraensis Kisielewsk, 1991, is a semiplanktonic gastrotrich found in a single pond in the Amazon region of Brazil. Herein we describe a new species of the genus Ornamentula , collected in a small urban lagoon in the Atlantic Forest of southeast Brazil. Ornamentula miyazakii sp. nov. resembles O. paraensis , but it shows differences in the ornamented trunk scales and spinal spines distribution, sufficient to proposte it as it’s a new species.