ArticleHydrobiologia2020
The curious and neglected soft-bodied meiofauna: Rouphozoa (Gastrotricha and Platyhelminthes).
Article in Hydrobiologia, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Variation in Meiofaunal Abundance and Composition Across an Estuarine Bay: Do They Comprise a Coherent and Distinct Entity Displaying Contrasting Patterns to the Macrofauna?Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Improved taxonomic and gene sampling advance the knowledge of deep relationships within Macrodasyida (Gastrotricha).Cladistics : the international journal of the Willi Hennig Society · 2026Article
- The Biogeography of Apicomplexan Parasites in Tropical Soils.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Fundamental questions in meiofauna research highlight how small but ubiquitous animals can improve our understanding of Nature.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Hidden but not Forgotten: Molecular Diversity and Species Delimitation of Proseriata (Platyhelminthes: Rhabditophora) across the Brazilian Coastline, with Focus on GenusZoological studies · 2025Article
- Circumtropical distribution and cryptic species of the meiofaunal enteropneust Meioglossus (Harrimaniidae, Hemichordata).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Deep-sea meiofaunal communities in the south-eastern Levantine basin and their shaping factors - Morphological-taxonomy-free metabarcoding approach.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Ultrastructural characterization of the putative defensive glands (warts) in the sessile, colonial rotiferZoologischer Anzeiger · 2023Article
- Environmental RNA as a Tool for Marine Community Biodiversity Assessments.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Free-living Microturbellarians (Platyhelminthes) from Wetlands in Southern Brazil, with the Description of Three New Species.Zoological studies · 2021Article
- Endless forms most stupid, icky, and small: The preponderance of noncharismatic invertebrates as integral to a biologically sound view of life.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Nourished, Exposed Beaches Exhibit Altered Sediment Structure and Meiofaunal Communities.Diversity · 2020Article
- Preface: Patterns and processes of meiofauna in freshwater ecosystems.Hydrobiologia · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Gastrotricha and Platyhelminthes form a clade called Rouphozoa. Representatives of both taxa are main components of meiofaunal communities, but their role in the trophic ecology of marine and freshwater communities is not sufficiently studied. Traditional collection methods for meiofauna are optimized for Ecdysozoa, and include the use of fixatives or flotation techniques that are unsuitable for the preservation and identification of soft-bodied meiofauna. As a result, rouphozoans are usually underestimated in conventional biodiversity surveys and ecological studies. Here, we give an updated outline of their diversity and taxonomy, with some phylogenetic considerations. We describe successfully tested techniques for their recovery and study, and emphasize current knowledge on the ecology, distribution and dispersal of freshwater gastrotrichs and microturbellarians. We also discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of (meta)barcoding studies as a means of overcoming the taxonomic impediment. Finally, we discuss the importance of rouphozoans in aquatic ecosystems and provide future research directions to fill in crucial gaps in the biology of these organisms needed for understanding their basic role in the ecology of benthos and their place in the trophic networks linking micro-, meio- and macrofauna of freshwater ecosystems.
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