Abstract
A new species of the genus Mesobiotus is described from the Republic of South Africa using a traditional morphological approach (light and scanning electron microscopy) combined with molecular analysis (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, ITS-2 and COI markers). Mesobiotus anastasiae sp. nov. differs from all known Mesobiotus species by having a unique combination of characters of the adult animals and the eggs. Adults of the new species have an oral cavity armature without elongate teeth in the second band, while the processes of the egg chorion have a basal collar and distinct rows of large pores. An updated key to the species of the genus Mesobiotus, including 66 of 70 currently described species, is given. An aquatic mite species from the Lobohalacarus weberi complex (freshwater Halacaridae) co-occurs with M. anastasiae sp. nov., suggesting that the newly described tardigrade inhabits constantly wet moss cushion habitats.
Highlights
The Tardigrada Doyère, 1840 is a phylum of microscopic multicellular animals widely distributed in nature
Light microscopy (LM): resulting permanent slides were examined under a Leica DM2500 microscope equipped with phase contrast (PhC) and differential interference contrast (DIC)
Etymology I dedicate this new species to my daughter, Anastasia
Summary
The Tardigrada Doyère, 1840 is a phylum of microscopic multicellular animals widely distributed in nature. There are more than 1300 species described (Degma et al 2009–2020), but this is very likely an underrepresentation of the actual number of taxa, as the global diversity of tardigrades is poorly investigated (Bartels et al 2016). The tardigrade fauna of the Republic of South Africa is the most investigated on the African continent (Middleton 2003; McIness et al 2017). Among 46 tardigrade species reported from the Republic of South Africa Only one species of South African tardigrade (Minibiotus ioculator Stec, Kristensen & Michalczyk, 2020) was described using an integrative approach, including light and scanning electron microscopy investigation, as well as sequencing of molecular markers (Stec et al 2020)
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