Abstract
A new species of Eutardigrada, Platicrista ramsayi sp. nov., is described from moss samples collected at high altitude on Volcán Chiles in the Ecuadorian Andes. This species differs from all others previously described in the genus by having only oblique cuticular bars on the first three pairs of legs. Platicrista affine (Mihel…i…, 1951) is formally designated as a nomen dubium. An amendment to the diagnostic characters for Platicrista itaquasconoide is proposed. A key to the species of the genus is presented.References
Argue, C.W. (1971) Some terrestrial tardigrades from New Brunswick, Canada. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 49, 401–415.
Balslev, H. (2001) Vascular plants on Volcán Chiles and Páramo del Angel, Ecuador – a preliminary list. In: Ramsay, P.M. (Ed.), The Ecology of Volcán Chiles: high-altitude ecosystems on the Ecuador-Colombia border, pp. 1–25. Plymouth: Pebble & Shell.
Beasley, C.W. (1990) Tardigrada from Gunnison Co., Colorado, with the description of a new species of Diphascon. The Southwestern Naturalist, 35, 302–304.
Biserov, V.I. (1996) Tardigrades of the Taimyr peninsula with descriptions of two new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 116, 215–237.
Dastych, H. (1993) Redescription of the cryoconital tardigrade Hypsibius klebelsbergi Mihelčič, 1959, with notes on the microslide collection of the late Dr. F. Mihelcic (Tardigrada). Sonderdruck aus Veröffentlichungen des Museum Ferdinandeunm, 73, 5–12.
Durrante Pasa, M.V. & Maucci, W. (1975) Descrizione di tre nuove specie di Tardigradi della Scandinavia. Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano, 116 (3–4), 244–250.
Ito, M. (1995) Taxonomic Study on the Eutardigrada from the Northern Slope if Mt. Fuji, Central Japan, II. Family Hypsibiidae. Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, 53, 18–39.
Kathman, R.D. (1990) Eutardigrada from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, including a description of Platicrista cheleusis n. sp. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 68, 1880–1895.
Kathman, R.D. & Beasley, C.W. (1997) Synonymy of Platicrista cheleusis (Tardigrada: Eutardigrada: Hypsibiidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 110 (4), 558–559.
Kaczmarek, Ł.. & Michalczyk, Ł. (2003) Platicrista horribilis, a new species of Tardigrada (Eutardigrada: Hypsibiidae) from Mongolia. Zootaxa, 132, 1–8.
Marcus, E. (1927) Zur Anatomie und Ökologie mariner Tardigraden. Zoologische Jahrbuecher, Abteilung fuer Systematic, 53, 487–558.
Mihelčič, F. (1951) Beitrag zur Systematik der Tardigraden. Archivio Zoologico Italiano, 36, 57–103.
Murray, J. (1905) The Tardigrada of the Scottish Lochs. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 41, 677–698.
Petersen, B. (1951) The Tardigrade Fauna of Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, 150 (5), 1–1194.
Pilato, G. (1969) Schema per una nuova sistemazione delle famiglie e dei generi degli Eutardigrada. Bollettino delle sedute dell’Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali, Catania, Ser. 4a, 10, 181–193.
Pilato, G. (1981) Analisi di nuovi caratteri nello studio degli eutardigradi. Animalia, 8, 51–57.
Pilato, G. (1987) Revision of the genus Diphascon Plate, 1889, with remarks on the subfamily Itaquasconinae (Eutardigrada, Hypsibiidae). Selected Symposia and Monographs. No. 1. Edited by R. Bertolani. Unione Zoologica Italiana, Mucchi Editore, Modena, 337–357.
Pilato, G., Binda M.G. & Claxton, S. (2002) Itaquascon unguiculum and Itaquascon cambewarrense: two new species of eutardigrades from Australia. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 29, 87–93.
Plate, L.H. (1889) Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Tardigraden. Zoologische Jahrbücher (Anatomie), 3, 487–550.
Ramazzotti G. & Maucci W. (1983) Il Phylum Tardigrada. III edizione riveduta e aggiornata. Memorie dell’Istituto Italiano di Idrobiolgia "Dott. Marco de Marchi", Pallanza, 41, 1–1012.
Ramsay, P.M. (Editor) (2001) The Ecology of Volcán Chiles: high-altitude ecosystems on the Ecuador-Colombia border. Pebble & Shell Publications, Plymouth. 217 pp.
Schuster, R.O., Nelson, D.R., Grigarick, A.A. & Christenberry, D. (1980) Systematic criteria of the Eutardigrada. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 99 (3), 284–303.