Tetranchyroderma massiliense Swedmark, 1956

Chatterjee, Tapas, Priyalakshmi, Geetha & Todaro, M. Antonio, 2019, An annotated checklist of the macrodasyidan Gastrotricha from India, Zootaxa 4545 (4), pp. 495-510 : 503

Tetranchyroderma massiliense Swedmark, 1956

Records from India. KERALA: Azhikode beach, Neendakara beach—Govindankutty& Nair (1969), Rajan & Nair (1979); GENERAL RECORD: Naidu & Rao (2004).

Habitat. Marine; Coarse sand grains of high water neap level.

Distribution: France (Mediterranean sea and Atlantic coast); India (? see below), south Korea (? see below)

Remarks. Govindankutty & Nair (1969) found a single specimen and the affiliation to the taxon was tentative. Indeed, based on the description and the drawing they provided, it seems very unlikely that the Indian specimen belongs to T. massiliense , because it was smaller (167 µm vs 290–310 µm in total length), had a single pair of cirrata tubes (vs two pairs) and a single pair of adhesive tubes between the caudal feet (vs two pairs). Naidu & Rao (2004) provided a description somewhat different i.e., the presence of two pairs of cirrata tubes and two pairs of adhesive tubes between the caudal feet; while the body length was the same as reported by Govindankutty & Nair (1969). Thus, it is unclear whether the Authors were referring to the same specimen or not. Regardless, the very high number of tetrancres rows, 48–50, indicated that even this description does not fit the original description of T. massiliense . Considering all the above, we consider this species finding as a doubtful record that require more evidence to prove the presence of this species on the Indian coast. Furthermore, Naidu & Rao (2004) reported the species to be present also in South Korea, however we could not find evidence in this regard, and the species is not included among the invertebrate fauna of Korea (see Lee 2012).