It is probable that all the records for Tetracanthella pilosa in UK/Eire are in fact Tetracanthella brachyura. All the slides I have examined in the NHML collection labelled 'pilosa' are brachyura. Indeed on many of Bagnall's slides, he has crossed out pilosa and written 'brachyura' on the label. In his 1949 paper, Bagnall states in the first sentence of the description of Tetracanthella brachyura sp. n. 'This species has been confused with I. pilosa Schott'. The only literature records are those of Miles (1998) from Wales but he does not include any records of Tetracanthella brachyura which is odd as one would expect to find this species in the habitats he surveyed (bogs). Tetracanthella pilosa should probably be removed from the checklist.

Back to main page