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Archisotoma pulchella is a moderately common littoral species that is probably present around the entire coast of Britain and Ireland. The body is blue/black to greyish in colour, a PAO is present and the eyes each have eight ocelli. The specimens I have seen reach a maximum length of 1.8 mm. The definitive feature for identification is the structure of the maxilla (Fig. 1 - compare this photo with Fig. 346 in Gisin (1960)). There are several specimens of Archisotoma pulchella in the NHML slide collection, many of them under other names.
I believe that the first Archisotoma species Bagnall found was Archisotoma pulchella which he assumed was Archisotoma besselsi. Thus when he found the true Archisotoma besselsi he described it as the new species Archisotoma nigricans. All of Bagnall's specimens labelled Archisotoma besselsi are Archisotoma pulchella.
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