Rotifers ­wheel animalcules­ are so-called because many have a corona of cilia on the head: coordinated beating of these cilia for locomotion or gathering food reminded observers of a rotating wheel. They are tiny (0.04 to 2.5mm) and most of the 2000-odd species live in fresh water. Recent research in Bromeliads by Wolfgang Janetzky increased the number of rotifers known in Jamaica from 34 to at least 205. Though at the bottom of the food chain, we like these animals and note that they are special enough to have their very own Phylum in the biological classification system, just one step below the Kingdom of Animalia.

One of the new endemic species of Jamaica is described below: