Corresponding authors: Maria Balsamo (
Academic editor: Pavel Stoev
The European Commission published the
With regard to biodiversity in Europe, both science and policies depend on a knowledge of its components. The assessment of biodiversity, monitoring changes, sustainable exploitation of biodiversity, and much legislative work depend upon a validated overview of taxonomic biodiversity. Towards this end Fauna Europaea plays a major role, providing a web-based information infrastructure with an index of scientific names (including important synonyms) of all living European land and freshwater animals, their geographical distribution at country level and some additional useful information. In this sense, the Fauna Europaea database provides a unique reference for many user-groups such as scientists, governments, industries, conservation communities and educational programs.
Fauna Europaea started in 2000 as an EC-FP5 four-years project, delivering its first release in 2004 (
Within the EU BON project also further steps will be made to implement
The Fauna Europaea is a database of the scientific names and distribution of all living, currently known European land and fresh-water animal species assembled by a large network of experts, using advanced electronic tools for data collations and validation routines. An extended description of the Fauna Europaea project can be found in
The
The phylum
Classical morphological taxonomy recognizes two orders,
The order
Gastrotrichs share several morphological and physiological features with other groups of freshwater microinvertebrates: among them are small size, soft body, worm-like body shape, high contractility, adhesive glands, ciliary locomotion, triradiate pharynx with well-developed musculature, short life cycle, common parthenogenic reproduction, production of resting stages (
The diversity of the phylum
The order
The order
Thanks to recent studies, the current systematics is relatively stable for the order
Actually, the taxonomy of the phylum has been founded on morphological traits both of the external structure and the internal anatomy, like the shape and size of the cuticular elements, the organization of the reproductive system and the fine structure of spermatozoa (
It must be said that
The recent introduction of molecular analyses to
We may expect a future increase in species numbers of
The Fauna Europaea database (version 2.4, January 2011) includes 215 species, 214 of which belong to the order
Eight additional species of
A synthesis of European taxa is presented below.
Tenpin-like body, 84-770 μm in length.Two adhesive tubes forming the caudal ‘furca’. Four cephalic ciliary tufts. Cuticle generally provided with ornamentations of various shape and size, in some cases smooth. Two longitudinal ventral ciliary locomotory bands. Pharynx generally cylindrical, slightly widened posteriorly. Parthenogenic; rudimentary testes or aberrant spermatozoa recorded in several species.
This family is the largest one of the order, and includes most of the epibenthic and periphytic species colonizing standing waters as well as the few interstitial species known from psammic habitats.
At global scale the family
In European fresh waters the family is currently represented by 195 species in 8 genera: 5 genera include also marine species
These numbers include 8 new species and a single new record for Europe that have been reported after the release of the Fauna Europaea database in January 2011.
Newly described species
New species record for Europe
Tenpin-like or bottle-shaped body, 75-291 μm in length (caudal spines excluded). Caudal furca absent: rounded or truncated caudal end with 2 lobes bearing bristles or 2 to few long spines. Two cephalic ciliary tufts and a transversal band extending from ventral to dorsal side. Cuticle smooth, rarely with few faint scales. Ventrolateral spines short to very long, simple or more often barbed, isolated or in groups, inserted on the trunk region and sometimes movable. Few oblique ciliary locomotory series or tufts, rarely 2 bands (
All species of
At global scale the family
In European fresh waters the family
Cylindrical body, 98-150 μm in length. Two pairs of adhesive tubes forming the caudal furca. Cephalic ciliature uniform and continuous with 2 ventral ciliary locomotory bands. Cuticle smooth. A dorsal, transverse series of some thin, straight bristles or spines anterior to the furca. Pharynx cylindrical. Sexuality unknown.
All species of family
At global scale the family
In European fresh waters the family
Tenpin-like body, 90-310 μm in length (caudal spines excluded). Caudal furca absent: trunk end rounded or truncated with 2 short, caudal protuberances and 2 pairs or an unpaired median group of long simple or barbed spines. One dorsal and 2 ventral cephalic interrupted transverse ciliary bands. Cuticle smooth or with numerous fine spined scales. Several pairs of ventral ciliary locomotory tufts or oblique bands. Thick pharynx with 1-4 bulbs. Parthenogenic.
All the species of family
At global scale the family
In European fresh waters the family is represented by 4 species in 2 genera:
Cylindrical body, 220 μm in length. Two pairs of adhesive tubes forming the caudal furca. Two cephalic ventrolateral adhesive tubes. Numerous long sensory bristles on the head and along the body. Cuticle smooth. Ventral locomotory ciliature undescribed. Thick, cylindrical pharynx. Sexuality unknown.
This single species of the genus was found only once from Austrian interstitial fresh waters.
This BDJ data paper includes the taxonomic indexing efforts in the Fauna Europaea on European
The taxonomic framework of Fauna Europaea includes
Every taxonomic group is covered by at least one Group Coordinator responsible for the supervision and integrated input of taxonomic and distributional data of a particular group. The Fauna Europaea checklist would not have reached its current level of completion without the input from several groups of specialists. The formal responsibility of collating and delivering the data of relevant families rested with a number of Taxonomic Specialists (see Table
For
Data management tasks are taken care about by the Fauna Europaea project bureau. During the project phase (until 2004) a network of principal partners took responsability for various management tasks:
On the available expert capacity, presently, in Europe faunistic, systematic and taxonomical studies on freshwater
The area study covers the European mainland (Western Palearctic), including the Macaronesian islands, excluding the Caucasus, Turkey, Arabian Peninsula and Northern Africa (see: Geographic coverage).
For preparing the
See spatial coverage and geographic coverage descriptions.
Fauna Europaea data have been assembled by principal taxonomic experts, based on their individual expertise, including literature sources, collection research, and field observations. In total no less than 476 experts contributed taxonomic and/or faunistic information for Fauna Europaea. The vast majority of the experts are from Europe (including EU non-member states). As a unique feature, Fauna Europaea funds were set aside for rewarding/compensating for the work of taxonomic specialists and group coordinators.
To facilitate data transfer and data import, sophisticated on-line (web interfaces) and off-line (spreadsheets) data-entry routines were built, integrated within an underlying central Fauna Europaea transaction database (see Fig.
A first release of the Fauna Europaea index via the web-portal has been presented at 27th of September 2004, the most recent release (version 2.6.2) was launched at 29 August 2013. An overview of Fauna Europaea releases can be found here:
Fauna Europaea data are unique in a sense that they are fully expert based. Selecting leading experts for all groups assured the systematic reliability and consistency of the Fauna Europaea data. Furthermore, all Fauna Europaea data sets are intensively reviewed at regional and thematic validation meetings, at review sessions on taxonomic symposia (for some groups), by Fauna Europaea Focal Points (during the FaEu-NAS and PESI projects) and by various end-users sending annotations using the web form at the web-portal. Additional validation on gaps and correct spelling was effected at the validation office in Paris.
In general we expect to get taxonomic data for 99.3% of the known European fauna after the initial release. The faunistic coverage is not quite as good, but is nevertheless 90-95% of the total fauna. For
Checks on technical and logical correctness of the data have been implemented in the data entry tools, including around 50 "
The only other existing database specifically dedicated to freshwater species on a worldwide scale has been produced within
By evaluating team structure and life cycle procedures (data-entry, validation, updating, etc.), clear definitions of roles of users and user-groups, according to the taxonomic framework were established, including ownership and read and writes privileges, and their changes during the project life-cycle. In addition, guidelines on common data exchange formats and codes have been issued (see also the '
Species and subspecies distributions in Fauna Europaea are registered at least a country level, i.e. for political countries. For this purpose the FaEu geographical system basically follows the TDWG standards. The covered area includes the European mainland (Western Palearctic), plus the Macaronesian islands (excl. Cape Verde Islands), Cyprus, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. Western Kazakhstan and the Caucasus are excluded (see Fig.
The focus is on species (or subspecies) of European animals of terrestrial and freshwater environments. Species in brackish waters, occupying the marine/freshwater or marine/terrestrial transition zones, are generally excluded.
The four species of
Mediterranean (N 35°) and Arctic Islands (N 82°) Latitude; Atlantic Ocean (Mid-Atlantic Ridge) (W 30°) and Ural (E 60°) Longitude.
This data paper covers the
Not all the species described to date are included in the current version of the Fauna Europaea database. The next version of the Fauna Europaea database will be updated with the most recent records.
The placement of the genus
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Currently living animals in stable populations, largely excluding (1) rare/irregular immigrants, intruder or invader species, (2) accidental or deliberate releases of exotic (pet) species, (3) domesticated animals, (4) foreign species imported and released for bio-control or (5) foreign species largely confined to hothouses.
Open Data Commons Attribution License
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Column label | Column description |
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datasetName | The name identifying the data set from which the record was derived ( |
version | Release version of data set. |
versionIssued | Issue data of data set version. |
rights | Information about rights held in and over the resource ( |
rightsHolder | A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource ( |
accessRights | Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status ( |
taxonID | An identifier for the set of taxon information ( |
parentNameUsageID | An identifier for the name usage of the direct parent taxon (in a classification) of the most specific element of the scientificName ( |
scientificName | The full scientific name, with authorship and date information if known ( |
acceptedNameUsage | The full name, with authorship and date information if known, of the currently valid (zoological) taxon ( |
originalNameUsage | The original combination (genus and species group names), as firstly established under the rules of the associated nomenclaturalCode ( |
family | The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified ( |
familyNameId | An identifier for the family name. |
genus | The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified ( |
subgenus | The full scientific name of the subgenus in which the taxon is classified. Values include the genus to avoid homonym confusion ( |
specificEpithet | The name of the first or species epithet of the scientificName ( |
infraspecificEpithet | The name of the lowest or terminal infraspecific epithet of the scientificName, excluding any rank designation ( |
taxonRank | The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName ( |
scientificNameAuthorship | The authorship information for the scientificName formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclaturalCode ( |
authorName | Author name information |
namePublishedInYear | The four-digit year in which the scientificName was published ( |
Brackets | Annotation if authorship should be put between parentheses. |
nomenclaturalCode | The nomenclatural code under which the scientificName is constructed ( |
taxonomicStatus | The status of the use of the scientificName as a label for a taxon ( |
resourceDescription | An account of the resource, including a data-paper DOI ( |
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Column label | Column description |
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datasetName | The name identifying the data set from which the record was derived ( |
version | Release version of data set. |
versionIssued | Issue data of data set version. |
rights | Information about rights held in and over the resource ( |
rightsHolder | A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource ( |
accessRights | Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status ( |
taxonName | The full scientific name of the higher-level taxon |
scientificNameAuthorship | The authorship information for the scientificName formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclaturalCode ( |
taxonRank | The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName ( |
taxonID | An identifier for the set of taxon information ( |
parentNameUsageID | An identifier for the name usage of the direct parent taxon (in a classification) of the most specific element of the scientificName ( |
resourceDescription | An account of the resource, including a data-paper DOI ( |
FaEu data set
Common and rare representatives of European freshwater gastrotrichs.
Original images can be found here: Suppl. materials
Fauna Europaea on-line (browser interfaces) and off-line (spreadsheets) data entry tools.
Fauna Europaea geographic coverage ('minimal Europe').
Responsible specialists per family in
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Maria Balsamo; J. Kisielewski; J.L. d'Hondt; P. Tongiorgi; M.A.Todaro | 186 | 195 | ≥ 300 | |
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Maria Balsamo; J. Kisielewski; J.L. d'Hondt; P. Tongiorgi; M.A.Todaro | 21 | 21 | ≥ 30 | |
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Maria Balsamo; J. Kisielewski; J.L. d'Hondt; P. Tongiorgi; M.A.Todaro | 3 | 3 | ≥ 5 | |
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Maria Balsamo; J. Kisielewski; J.L. d'Hondt; P. Tongiorgi; M.A.Todaro | 4 | 4 | ≥ 10 | Here |
Maria Balsamo; J. Kisielewski; J.L. d'Hondt; P. Tongiorgi; M.A.Todaro | 1 | 1 | ? | Placement of |
Responsible associated specialists in
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Jacek Kisielewski | 1 & 2 |
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Jean-Loup d'Hondt | 1 & 2 |
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Paolo Tongiorgi | 1 & 2 (now retired) |
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Antonio Todaro | 1 & 2 (now working on marine species) |
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Tobias Kånneby | new |
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Malgorzata Kolicka | new |
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Paolo Grilli | new |
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Loretta Guidi | new |
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Alexander Kieneke | new |
Fauna Europaea
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Figure 1A: Chaetonotus (Captochaetus) robustus (insert shows the peculiar scales); Scale bar =100 µm.
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Brief description: Original image of Figure 1A.
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Figure 1B: Fam.
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Brief description: Original image of Figure 1B.
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Figure 1C: Fam.
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Figure 1D: Fam.
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Figure 1E: Fam.
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Brief description: Original image of Figure 1E.
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Figure 1F: Fam.
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Brief description: Original image of Figure 1F.
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Figure 1G: Fam.
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Brief description: Original image of Figure 1G.
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Figure 1H: Fam.
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Brief description: Detailed image of composted Figure 1.
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