Body short, stout, bulbous distally; abdomen laterally compressed; lorica flexible with wide lateral sulci separating indistinct lorica plates; foot short, ventral, with overhanging tail; toes short, straight, thin, conical; two separate red frontal eyespots. Mastax with ventral salivary glands (may be absent in small specimens); trophus type C: Right ramus with a tooth; long fulcrum slightly expanded distally; manubria rod-shaped, decurved, ending in semicircular dorsal expansion. Hooked manubria ends may result from hypochlorite digestion.
Total length 80-160 µm, toes 9-14 µm (18-20 µm in Harring & Myers 1924); trophus 27 µm (45 µm in Harring & Myers 1924); male 140 µm, toes 17 µm.
Balearic Archipelago, Spain (De Manuel et al. 1992); Maiorca (De Ridder 1967); Spain by De Ridder (1962). Roscoff by d’Hondt (1970), Baltic Sea by Rentz (1940), Baltic Sea by Remane (1929), Black Sea by Rudescu (1961); Germany by Althaus (1957a); France by De Ridder (1968); Senegal (De Ridder 1983); Finland Godske Bjorklund (1972b); Germany (Holstein) by Hauer (1925); Bolivia (Iltis et al. 1984); Poland by Wulfert (1943)
Cosmopolitan in fresh to brackish water, occasionally reported in coastal (marine) waters.
