Abstract
Five eutardigrade species from the Azores are reported in this study. Three of them are new records for the Azores, and another two, Macrobiotus almadai sp. nov. and Doryphoribius picoensis sp. nov., are new to science. Macrobiotus almadai sp. nov. belongs to the hufelandi group but it differs from the other species of the group in some characters of buccopharyngeal apparatus (narrow buccal tube, buccal armature without bands of teeth) and eggs (the terminal disc of processes may appear smooth, but in some orientations it shows very small teeth). Doryphoribius picoensis sp. nov. has cuticle with undulations and some small gibbosities and pharyngeal bulb with two macroplacoids and neither microplacoid nor septulum. It differs from D. macrodon Binda, Pilato & Dastych, 1980, in having no color, indistinct gibbosities, different buccal armature and claws of hind legs shorter than those of the other legs. It differs from D. maranguensis Binda & Pilato, 1995 by: absence of small cuticular tubercles, claws of the hind legs shorter than those of the other legs, small lunules present.References
Bartoš, E. (1934) Contribution to the knowledge of the tardigrades of Czechoslovak Republic. Časopis Československé Společnosti entomologické, 31, 50–58 + 99–107. (in Czech.)
Bertolani, R. & Rebecchi, L. (1993) A revision of the Macrobiotus hufelandi group (Tardigrada, Macrobiotidae), with some observations on the taxonomic characters of eutardigrades. Zoologica Scripta, 22, 2, 127–152.
Binda, M.G. & Pilato, G. (1972) Tardigradi muscicoli di Sicilia. (IV Nota). Bollettino Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali, Catania, S. IV, XI, 3–4, 47–60.
Binda, M.G. & Pilato, G. (1995) Some notes on African tardigrades with a description of two new species. Tropical Zoology, 8, 367–372.
Binda, M.G. & Pilato, G. (2001) Macrobiotus savai and Macrobiotus humilis, two new species of tardigrades from Sri Lanka. Bollettino Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali, Catania, 34, 360, 101–111.
Binda, M.G., Pilato, G. & Dastych, H. (1980) Descrizione di una nuova specie di eutardigrado: Doryphoribius macrodon. Animalia, 7, 23–27.
Biserov, V.I. (1990) On the revision of the genus Macrobiotus, the subgenus Macrobiotus s. str.: A new systematic status of the group hufelandi (Tardigrada, Macrobiotidae). Communication I. Zoologichesky Zhurnal, 69, 5–17. (in Russian with English summary)
Dastych, H. (2002) A new species of the genus Macrobiotus Schultze, 1834 from Îles Kergélen, the sub-Antarctic (Tardigrada). Mitteilungen aus dem Hamburgischen Zoologischen Museum und Institut, 99, 11–27.
Dastych, H. (2005) Macrobiotus ramoli sp. nov., a new tardigrade species from the nival zone of the Ötztal Alps, Austria (Tardigrada). Mitteilungen aus dem Hamburgischen Zoologischen Museum und Institut, 102, 21–35.
Ehrenberg, C.G. (1853) Diagnoses novarum formarum. Monatsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenshaften zu Berlin, Berlin, 8, 526–533.
Fontoura, P. (1982) Deux nouvelles espèces de Tardigrades muscicoles du Portugal. Publicações do Instituto de Zoologia Dr. Augusto Nobre, 165, 4–19.
Fontoura, P. (1985) Primeiro contributo para o conhecimento da fauna de tardígrados dos Açores. Arquipélago, 4, 45–56.
Fontoura, P. & Pilato, G. (2007) Diphascon (Diphascon) faialense sp. nov. a new species of Tardigrada (Eutardigrada, Hypsibiidae) from the Azores and a key to the species of the D. pingue group. Zootaxa, 1589, 47–55.
Fontoura, P., Pilato, G. & Lisi, O. (2008) Echiniscidae (Tardigrada, Heterotardigrada) from Faial and Pico Islands, the Azores, with the description of two new species. Zootaxa, 1693, 49–61.
Guill, N. & Guidetti, R. (2005) A new species of Tardigrada (Eutardigrada: Macrobiotidae) from Iberian Peninsula and Canary Islands (Spain). Zootaxa, 889, 1–11.
Horning, D.S., Schuster, R.O. & Grigarick, A.A. (1978) Tardigrada of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 5, 185–280.
Maucci, W. (1993) Prime notizie su tardigradi “terrestri” del Madagascar con descrizione di tre specie nuove. Bollettino del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona, 17, 381–392.
McInnes, S.J. (1994) Zoogeographic distribution of terrestrial/freshwater tardigrades from current literature. Journal of Natural History, 28, 257–352.
Murray, J. (1907a) Scottish tardigrades, collected by the Lake Survey. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 45, Part III, 24, 641–666.
Murray, J. (1907b) Arctic Tardigrada, collected by Wm S. Bruce. Transactions of Royal Society of Edinburgh, 45, 3, 669–681.
Murray, J. (1910) Tardigrada. Reports of the Scientific Investigations of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907–1909, 1(5), 81–185.
Pilato, G. (1969) Evoluzione e nuova sistemazione degli Eutardigrada. Bollettino di Zoologia, 36, 3, 327–345.
Pilato, G. (1981) Analisi di nuovi caratteri nello studio degli Eutardigradi. Animalia, 8, 51–57.
Pilato, G., Bertolani, R. & Binda, M.G. (1982) Studio degli Isohypsibius del grupo elegans (Eutardigrada, Hypsibiidae) con descrizione di due nuove specie. Animalia, 9, 185–198.
Pilato, G.. Binda, M.G., Napolitano, A. & Moncada, E. (2000) The specific value of Macrobiotus coronatus de Barros, 1942, and description of two new species of the harmsworthi group (Eutardigrada). Bollettino Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali, Catania, 33, 358, 103–120.
Pilato, G., Fontoura, P. & Lisi, O. (2007) Remarks on the Echiniscus viridis group, with the description of a new species (Tardigrada, Echiniscidae). Journal of Limnology, 66 (Suppl. 1), 33–39.
Ramazzotti, G. (1959) Il gruppo dell’Echiniscus viridis con la nuova specie E. perviridis e Macrobiotus pustulatus, altra nuova specie (Tardigrada). Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Milano, 98, 303–309.
Richters, F. (1902) Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Fauna der Umgebung von Frankfurt am Main. Bericht der Senckenberzischen Naturforschenden gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main, 3–21.
Richters, F. (1904) Arktische Tardigraden. Fauna Arctica, 3, 493–508.
Schultze, C.A.S (1834) Macrobiotus hufelandi animal e crustaceorum classe novum reviviscendi post diuturnam asphyxiam et ariditatem potens, etc. 8, C.Curths, Berlin.
Thulin, G. (1928) Über die Phylogenie und das System der Tardigraden. Hereditas, 11, 207–266.