European Journal of Taxonomy 354: 1–30 ISSN 2118-9773 https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2017.354 www.europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu 2017 · Kolicka M. et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Research article urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:51C2BE54-B99B-4464-8FC1-28A5CC6B9586 A new species of freshwater Chaetonotidae (Gastrotricha, Chaetonotida) from Obodska Cave (Montenegro) based on morphological and molecular characters Małgorzata KOLICKA 1,*, Piotr GADAWSKI 2 & Miroslawa DABERT 3 1 Department of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61–614 Poznan, Poland. 2 Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, University of Łódź, Banacha 12/16, 90–237 Łódź, Poland. 3 Molecular Biology Techniques Laboratory, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61–614 Poznan, Poland. * Corresponding author:
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[email protected] 1 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author:550BCAA1-FB2B-47CC-A657-0340113C2D83 2 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author:BCA3F37A-28BD-484C-A3B3-C2169D695A82 3 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author:8F04FE81-3BC7-44C5-AFAB-6236607130F9 Abstract. Gastrotricha is a cosmopolitan phylum of aquatic and semi-aquatic invertebrates that comprises about 820 described species. Current knowledge regarding freshwater gastrotrichs inhabiting caves is extremely poor and there are no extant data regarding Gastrotricha from Montenegro. We describe a new species from Obodska Cave, which is also the fi rst record of a gastrotrich from this region. Due to its unusual habitat and morphological characteristics, this species may be important when considering the evolution and dispersion routes of Chaetonotidae Gosse, 1864 (sensu Leasi & Todaro 2008).