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Type: Article
Published: 2017-12-08
Page range: 101–123
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The Macrobiotus hufelandi group (Tardigrada) revisited

Department of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland. Laboratorio de Ecología Natural y Aplicada de Invertebrados, Universidad Estatal Amazónica, Campus Principal Km 2.1/2 via a Napo (Paso Lateral) Puyo, Pastaza, Ecuador
Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 9, 30-387 Kraków, Poland. Centre for Evolutionary Biology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth 6009 WA, Australia
Tardigrada chorion egg shell diagnostic key Eutardigrada Macrobiotidae morphology morphometry nomenclature Parachela systematics taxonomy

Abstract

Species of the Macrobiotus hufelandi group are one of the most often recorded tardigrades throughout the globe. For over a century M. hufelandi has been considered cosmopolitan but in recent decades numerous species of similar morphologies have been described from various continents, which suggests that what was originally defined as a single taxon is, in fact, a complex of species. The definition of the hufelandi group is subject to a long-standing discussion and in this paper we propose a refined set of characters that are hoped to elucidate the taxonomic status of the group. In order to aid interspecific comparisons, we also propose a unified nomenclature for the crucial morphological traits and clar

 

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