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Australian fauna is widely recognised for its high levels of endemism, and tardigrade fauna does not seem to be an exception in this respect. The richness of xerothermic habitats in Australia, often occupied by heterotardigrade family Echiniscidae, entails high abundance and uniqueness of echiniscid assemblages. A new gonochoristic/dioecious echiniscid species was found in large numbers in samples from Western Australia. Echiniscus siticulosussp. nov., characterised by dominant large cuticular pores in the dorsal sculpture and appendages in the form of spines, represents the spinulosus group but can be distinguished from the known members of this species complex by a unique combination of traits: peculiar faceting of the caudal plate formed by ridge-shaped epicuticular extensions and pore morphology. An amended phenotypic diagnosis of Echiniscus spiniger Richters 1904, the species morphologically most similar to the new species, is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many species of microscopic invertebrates, such as tardigrades or rotifers, have been traditionally regarded as cosmopolitan. This conviction was based on classical taxonomic observations of very similar phenotypes across the globe and hypothetical abilities of micrometazoans for large-scale dispersal with air and water currents. However, several recent studies showed that micrometazoan species may have restricted geographic ranges, suggesting that microscopic size is not the only determinant of dispersal. Here, we describe the first Australasian record of Echiniscus testudo, a heterotardigrade originally described from the Holarctic. Morphological and genetic analyses gave congruent conclusions and confirmed that European and New Zealand populations represent a single species. Importantly, however, without broader sampling in primeval localities, it is not possible to test whether the New Zealand record of E. testudo is a result of natural dispersal or whether the species was brought to Australasia by humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we describe a newParamacrobiotusspecies of theareolatusgroup by means of integrative taxonomy. Together with the detailed morphological and morphometric data (obtained from light and scanning electron microscopy) we also provide DNA sequences of four universal molecular markers used in tardigrade taxonomy (three nDNA fragments: 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, ITS-2, and one mtDNA fragment: COI). The animals ofParamacrobiotus lachowskaesp. nov. are similar to several species of theareolatuscomplex and the eggshell ornamentation is similar to that of two species of therichtersigroup. Therefore, the new species can be easily distinguished from theareolatusgroup species by egg morphology (dome-like, wrinkled processes with long flexible spines/filaments covered by fine short hairs) and from species of therichtersicomplex by the absence of the microplacoid.Paramacrobiotus lachowskaesp. nov. is the 43rd species reported from Colombia and fifthParamacrobiotusspecies from this South American country. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FEDC11D3-DCCF-4699-A704-CE6DEA1CDED4 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rare species, Doryphoribius zyxiglobus, was found in mosses in New Zealand. So far, it has been cited only three times; from Australia, New Zealand and central China. The original description is very brief and is insufficient by today's taxonomic standards and seems not to be based on the holotype. A photograph of the slide mounted holotype (obtained from The Museum of New Zealand) showed it to be so poorly preserved and oriented that it was deemed probable that little would be gained by its further examination. Consequently, the redescription was based on a few limited measurements from the photograph of the holotype with a complete set of measurements of a paratype and supported by morphometric analysis of a set of topotypes—all borrowed from The Museum of New Zealand. A comparison between sets of specimens from three countries (New Zealand, Australia and China) and a single specimen from South Africa permitted an evaluation of the geographic variation of this species. This paper thus redescribes D. zyxiglobus, reports on populations from widely separated locales and extends its geographical range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new eutardigrade species Milnesium krzysztofi sp. nov. is described from Costa Rica. M. krzysztofi sp. nov. differs from the most similar Milnesium katarzynae Kaczmarek et al., 2004 mainly by the presence of spurs on internal claws I-III and on external claw IV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species Macrobiotus magdalenae sp. nov. is described from a liverwort sample collected in Costa Rica (Central America). The new species is most similar to Macrobiotus corgatensis Pilato et al., 2002 but differs from it mainly by the lack of fine granulation on the cuticle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]