Abstract
The present report describes the results obtained from a survey on the tardigrade communities of five microhabitats (leaf litter, and mosses and lichens on rocks and tree trunks) in the Sierra de Guadarrama (Madrid, Spain). Sampling design was conducted according to a spatially mixed stratified-random procedure. A list with new records for Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and Madrid is provided. I have added two species to the European check list, increased number of known species in the Iberian Peninsula from 118 to 131, and duplicated the number of species known in the Madrid Province. Besides, some variations in morphological characters have been observed within-species, the majority related to structures of the buccal-pharyngeal apparatus and claws. More within-species variability studies are needed to determine their validity as diagnostic characters. A specific discussion is made about morphological variability within the Echiniscus blumi-canadensis series, as a result of observations among and within species from the series.References
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