Neostygarctus Grimaldi de Zio, D’Addabbo Gallo & Morone de Lucia, 1982

Tchesunov, Alexei V., 2018, A new tardigrade species of the genus Neostygarctus Grimaldi de Zio et al., 1982 (Tardigrada, Arthrotardigrada) from the Great Meteor Seamount, Northeast Atlantic, European Journal of Taxonomy 479, pp. 1-17 : 4

Genus Neostygarctus Grimaldi de Zio, D’Addabbo Gallo & Morone de Lucia, 1982

Type species

Neostygarctus acanthophorus Grimaldi de Zio, D’Addabbo Gallo & Morone de Lucia, 1982

Diagnosis (after Kristensen et al. 2015 and Fontoura et al. 2017, modified)

Stygarctinae with five dorsal plates bearing dorsal spines and always three pairs of lateral trunk processes with cuticular spines. Cuticular spines also present on the head, body, and on the fourth leg pair. Up to five very thin ventral plates sometime seen as folds only. Cephalic region subdivided into six lobes; anterior frontal pair with two ventral internal cirri and a large dorsal median cirrus present near the base of the frontal lobe; fronto-lateral pair with ventral external cirri and secondary clavae; the lateral lobes consist of very long common cirrophores for lateral cirri and primary clavae. All six lobes have cuticular spines; furthermore, two swollen lobe with spines are present dorsal and posterior on the cephalic plate, and similar lateral swollen with spines are present on the caudal plate. Cirrus E very large with accordion-like articulation. Sense organs on fourth leg pair, similar to primary clava. Legs with four digits, each with a dorsal cuticular support ending in a triangular, solid claw. All four claws with or without dorsal bristle. Stylet supports absent. Oval male gonopore situated close to lobed anus. Female gonopore formed as a six-lobed, midventral rosette on the caudal region; two seminal receptacles present, located caudal to the female gonopore, and with sinuous duct openings as two cuticular tubes lateral to the gonopore.