New data on rotifers (Rotifera) from European waterbodies

We present new georeferenced data on rotifers in all major types of European freshwater and brackish inland waterbodies: lotic (rivers, streams, brooks, waterfalls, canals), lentic (lakes, ponds, swamps, bogs, marshes, puddles, cryoconite holes and other temporary waterbodies) and transitional (estuaries). The littoral zone of the Black Sea and the southern coast of the English Channel (La Manche) are represented as marine habitats in this dataset. Twenty-five protected areas were surveyed during this study.The survey was conducted from 1976 to 2021. In total, we added to GBIF 4,862 new occurrences of Phylum Rotifera, including the classes Eurotatoria (subclasses Monogononta and Bdelloidea) and Pararotatoria. The dataset substantially expands the information on the distribution of still inadequately studied bdelloid rotifers (Bdelloidea) available through GBIF (1,514 new occurrences are added). We focused our study on aquatic communities that have received less attention than planktonic ones, such as periphytic, benthic and psammic rotifers and commensals on aquatic invertebrates. We also added new data on rotifers in waterfalls (6 species), temporary waterbodies (153 taxa of species rank) and tree hollows (5 species). Three species amongst those recorded are new to the fauna of Ukraine: <i>Lecane elsa</i> Hauer, 1931, <i>Lindia pallida</i> Harring & Myers, 1922, <i>Paradicranophorus aculeatus</i> (Neizvestnova-Zhadina, 1935).