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Worldwide knowledge of tardigrade fauna is still limited, and many areas such as South America are not well studied. The collection of new substrates in Argentinean urban areas provided an opportunity to describe the new tardigrade speciesMacrobiotus kristensenisp. nov. This species has been studied with an integrative taxonomic approach, analysing its morphology by light and scanning electron microscopy, and considering two genes (cox1and 18S rRNA) for DNA barcoding and phylogenetic purposes. The species belongs to theMacrobiotus hufelandigroup of species, and it is characterized by egg processes in the shape of elongated cones with truncated and enlarged apexes, and by a high genetic distance with respect to closely related species (cox1: 18.2–33.4%). Morphological and molecular data show that theMacrobiotus hufelandigroup of species has to be considered a true biological entity; one of the more widespread tardigrade lineages in continental environments.http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2CA51ABA-5570-4AFB-8182-CE499D97B0F1 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new species of the tardigrade genus Macrobiotus is described. The species, designated M. ciprianoi n. sp., was isolated from a mixture of Provence broom leaf litter and mosses, and from rock mosses collected in the Sierra de Guadarrama, Madrid (Spain). Given that Macrobiotus ciprianoi n. sp. shares several characters to members of the "tenuis group", we assessed the taxonomic homogeneity of the group. The new species differs from those of the "tenuis group" according to a unique set of characters related with claw shape, features of the buccal-pharyngeal apparatus, and egg morphology. Our analysis of holotypes and/or paratypes of "tenuis group" species and other Macrobiotus species with similar characters (M. bondavallii and M. caelicola) reflects the heterogeneity of this group of species as currently described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]