Thulinius

Bertolani, Roberto, 2003, Thulinius, new generic name substituting for Thulinia Bertolani, 1981 (Tardigrada, Eutardigrada), Zootaxa 314, pp. 1-4 : 2

Thulinius nomen novum

Diagnosis. Mouth opening with 12 small, partially fused peribuccal lamellae ( Fig. 1 A) surrounded by six peribuccal lobes, sometimes subdivided into a larger number of irregular sublobes ( Fig. 1 B); crest­shaped apophyses for the insertion of the stylet muscles on the buccal tube ( Fig. 1 C), claws of Isohypsibius ­ type ( Fig. 1 , E,F,G).

Etymology. Dedicated to Gustav Thulin, an excellent Swedish researcher.

Type species. Isohypsibius stephaniae Pilato, 1974

Composition. T. stephaniae ( Pilato, 1974) , T. ruffoi Bertolani, 1981 , T. augusti ( Murray, 1907)

Remarks. The three species are characterized by a buccal armature with a posterior band of fine teeth, followed by a line of bigger round teeth ( Fig. 1 A,B), instead of transverse mucrones, as in several other genera of Hypsibiidae, Macrobiotdae and Eohypsibiidae , and by rows of macroplacoids, whose curvatures resemble a Grecian urn ( Fig. 1 D). The species differ together mainly for the shape of the cuticular structures of the legs. Thulinius ruffoi ( Fig. 1 F) differs from T. stephaniae ( Fig. 1 G) in having thinner claws with longer tapering basal tract, lunules evident and a less prominent cuticular bar below the claws of the first three pair of legs (other than for a more slender body). Thulinius augusti differs from the other two species by the presence of a particularly long and thin basal tract of the claw, especially in the external one, from T. stephaniae also by a weaker cuticular bar below the claws of the first three pair of legs, and from T. ruffoi also by the absence of lunules. The subdivision of the lobes into sub­lobes ( Fig. 1 B) is another possible difference between T. augusti and the other two species.

Figures

FIGURE 1 – Details of sclerified structures in Thulinius. A: buccal armature; B: subdivided lobes in T. augusti; C: crest­shaped apophyses for the insertion of the stylet muscles on the buccal tube; D: buccal­pharyngeal apparatus. Claws on the third pair of legs in E: T. stephaniae, F: T. ruffoi, G: T. augusti. (A and D modified from Bertolani (1982); C, E and F from Bertolani (1982); B and G from Bertolani et al. (1999 )).