Batillipedidae Ramazzotti, 1962

Jørgensen, Aslak, Boesgaard, Tom M., Møbjerg, Nadja & Kristensen, Reinhardt M., 2014, The tardigrade fauna of Australian marine caves: With descriptions of nine new species of Arthrotardigrada, Zootaxa 3802 (4), pp. 401-443 : 405

Family: Batillipedidae Ramazzotti, 1962

Diagnosis (following Gallo D’Addabbo et al. 2005): Arthrotardigrada with a trapezoid head divided into three parts: two lateroventral triangular lobes bearing all the cephalic cirri (except the medial cirrus) along with the primary and secondary clavae, and a central lobate portion with the medial cirrus. Simple cephalic cirri with lancelike or frayed distal tips. Tubular primary clavae with or without one or more constrictions; papillar secondary clavae, not always evident. Lipoid eye spots sometimes present. Stylet supports always present. Lateral intermetamerical processes present or absent. Legs digitate with four or six digits, according to age, bearing terminal adhesive discs. Claws absent. Sense organs present on all the legs. Cirrus E dorsal to the fourth pair of legs. A longitudinal groove generally present between the rosette-like female gonopore and the anus. Single internal seminal receptacle sometimes present, opposite the oviduct. Circular male gonopore covered by a crescent fold. Caudal apparatus present or absent. Cuticular punctuations, consisting of pillars in the epicuticle, always present. Dorsal cuticular pillars always taller than the ventral ones.

Type genus: Batillipes Richters, 1909

Discussion. The Batillipedidae originally included the genera Batillipes and Orzeliscus . In the present study the subfamily Orzeliscinae (including Orzeliscus ) is placed in the family Halechiniscidae ( Jørgensen et al. 2010) . The Batillipedidae is currently generically monogeneric.