Macrobiotus kristenseni Guidetti, Peluffo

Kaczmarek, Łukasz, Michalczyk, Łukasz & Mcinnes, Sandra J., 2015, Annotated zoogeography of non-marine Tardigrada. Part II: South America, Zootaxa 3923 (1), pp. 1-107 : 72

168. Macrobiotus kristenseni Guidetti, Peluffo , Rocha, Cesari & Moly de Peluffo, 2013 [T] [m]

Macrobiotus sp. (Moly de Peluffo et al. 2006, Peluffo et al. 2007)

Macrobiotus kristenseni sp. nov. ( Guidetti et al. 2013)

Terra typica: Argentina (South America)

Argentina:

• 35°40′S, 63°44′W; 143 m asl: La Pampa Province, General Pico (125 km northeast of Santa Rosa), epiphytic lichens. Moly de Peluffo et al. (2006), Guidetti et al. (2013)

• 36°39′S, 64°17′W; 177 m asl: Type Locality: La Pampa Province, Santa Rosa [Santa Rosa de Toay], epiphytic lichens. Peluffo et al. (2007), Guidetti et al. (2013)

• 36°55′S, 64°16′W; 150 m asl: La Pampa Province, Natural Reserve Parque Luro (35 km south of Santa Rosa), caldén forest, epiphytic lichens. Guidetti et al. (2013)

Record numbers: Argentina: 3; total: 3.

Remarks: Currently endemic to Argentina, the species belongs to the persimilis subgroup (with a smooth egg shell) within the Macrobiotus hufelandi group. The hufelandi group requires careful taxonomic analysis, including egg morphology, to differentiate the individual species (see Bertolani & Rebecchi 1993; and e.g. Fontoura et al. 2008, Kaczmarek & Michalczyk 2004, 2009b, Pilato et al. 2003b, Bartels et al. 2009, Guidetti et al. 2013 for new species within this group).