Tardigrades of the Seychelles Islands, with the description of three new species

Abstract

In the context of the project “The Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles”, three species new to science are described (Macrobiotus creber sp. n., Macrobiotus perfidus sp. n. and Macrobiotus diguensis sp. n.) and two species (Macrobiotus madegassus and Minibiotus continuus) are recorded for the Seychelles for the first time. Macrobiotus creber sp. n. belongs to the furciger group but it differs from the members of this group in some metric characters of the buccopharyngeal apparatus, or of the claws, and in some characters of the eggs. Macrobiotus perfidus sp. n. is similar to M. pseudocoronatus but it differs from it in having small cuticular tubercles, in lacking an anterior band of teeth and a less developed posterior ring of triangular teeth in the buccal cavity, in having slightly shorter macroplacoids, slightly longer and slender claws and in characters of the eggs. Macrobiotus diguensis sp. n. is similar to M. snaresensis and M. erminiae but it differs from them in metric characters of the bucco-pharyngeal apparatus, in having more slender claws and in some characters of the eggs.