Echiniscus kofordi Schuster & Grigarick, 1966

Lisi, Oscar, Daza, Anisbeth, Londono, Rosana & Quiroga, Sigmer, 2017, Echiniscidae from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, new records and a new species of Bryodelphax Thulin, 1928 (Tardigrada), ZooKeys 703, pp. 1-14 : 2

Echiniscus kofordi Schuster & Grigarick, 1966

Material examined.

11 specimens, CBUMAG:TAR:00143 (5 specimens), 00144 (6 specimens). Microhabitat: lichen from the genus Parmotrema growing on a tree trunk. Locality: Medium basin of Garupal River, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 10°13'48.4"N, 073°48'01.5"W, 543 m a.s.l.

Remarks.

These specimens were compared with the holotypes of E. walteri Pilato & Lisi, 2003 and E. kofordi Schuster & Grigarick, 1966 deposited in the Binda and Pilato collection (Catania, Italy), concluding that the specimens corresponded perfectly with E. kofordi . This species has a wide distribution; with the type locality Santa Cruz Island ( Galápagos Islands, Ecuador), it has been recorded from India (Andaman Islands), United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Venezuela ( Grigarick et al. 1983, Meyer 2013). Due to the disjunct geographical distribution reported for this species, it is suspected that the Indian record might refer to another similar species.

This identification provides the first record for Colombia.