In July 2024 I found a few specimens of Cephalodella gibboides in the pond of the convent Hegne. This species is very close to Cephalodella gibba. A differentiation is only possible by close investigation of the trophi, because Cephalodella gibboides has joined pleural rods, which thus appear Y-shaped.

Apart from the original description by Wulfert (1950), there seem to be very few records and descriptions of this species. According to Wulfert, Cephalodella gibboides should have a double frontal eye. However, the specimens of my population lacked this frontal eye. I could only detect a few red granules in the forehead region. This is actually an indication that the identification is not correct. However, I could clearly recognize the joined pleural rods in the trophi (s. figs. 4 and 5 a-b). I consider this feature to be decisive, as there is only one other species within the genus Cephalodella with joined pleural rods (Cephalodella wrighti), which has a completely different body shape. In addition, the specimens in my population were about 125 µm long, which is 30 % smaller than stated by Wulfert.

Since only very few finds and descriptions of Cephalodella gibboides are available, little is known about the variability of this species. Therefore, I stick to the identification as Cephalodella gibboides, mainly due to the joined pleural rods and the long, slightly dorsally curved toes, as drawn by Wulfert (s. drawing above).