Ref ID : 2572
Mario F. Canella; [Osservaioni su Sinantherina semibullata (Thorpe) e su Altri Flosculariacea]. Annali Dell'Universita di Ferrara,Sezione III 1(3):171-257, 1952
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The Author, first of all, deals with questions concerning the nomenclature and taxonomy; he describes in short the present knowledge of the sessile Rotifers, solitary and aggregate in clusters or colonies, either permanently attached or anew adapted to pelagic life; he hints at Flosculariacea and Collothecacea found out in the italian fresh waters, and rapidly reviews the five species, known up to present, of Sinantherina (= Megalotrocha). The Author then relates his own observations regarding the morphology and organisation of Sinantherina semibullata (Thorpe), with comparative references to the other species of this genus; he describes the regular and constant disposition and orientation of the aggregate individuals, that cause a colonie to constitute an organic, unitary, symmetrical, coordinated and polarized whole: this is particularly evident in a colony free-swimming toward a determined direction. The different motion behaviour of young and adult individuals, detached from their colony, accounts for the progression power of the latter. The Author, at last, relates, always with comparative references to other species, both of the same and different genus, the observations drawn from the males, the amictic and mictic eggs, and the parthenogenetic and amphigonic reproduction of Sinantherina semibullata. All through the paper, the great interest that the Rotifera in general may offer for some main biological problems is emphasized.