Tholoarctus oleseni Jørgensen, Boesgaard, Møbjerg, & Kristensen, 2014

Trokhymchuk, Roman, Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas, Utevsky, Serge, Kristensen, Reinhardt Møbjerg & Kieneke, Alexander, 2024, Towards a better understanding of deep-sea tardigrade biogeography: numerous new records from the Southern Ocean, Zootaxa 5543 (1), pp. 1-39 : 23

Tholoarctus oleseni Jørgensen, Boesgaard, Møbjerg, & Kristensen, 2014

N= 8 specimens: 1 female, 4 males, 3 with undetermined sex occurrence: ANDEEP I, ANDEEP-SYSTCO; 1,927–2,997 m bsl.

Fig. 11 ; Supplementary Table 1.12

Short description

Tardigrades with slender body and bell-shaped outer epicuticle ( Fig. 11A, C ). Short primary clavae and large secondary clavae present ( Fig. 11A ). Sexual dimorphism concerning body size (female is 336 µm long and 79 µm wide, n=1; males are 165–173 µm long and 40 µm wide, n=3) ( Fig. 11A compared with Fig. 11C ). Sensory organs on each leg present ( Fig. 11B, D ).

Remarks

Tardigrades with clear sexual dimorphism in size (mature females are twice as big as males). Short spine-like sensory organ present also on the legs II and III. Outer epicuticle with various levels of inflation so we measured length and width by inner cuticle borders, which corresponded to the original description by Jørgensen et al. (2014).

Figures

FIGURE 11. Tholoarctus oleseni. A Tholoarctus oleseni, female, light microscopy (DIC), dorsal view. B Tholoarctus oleseni, female, light microscopy (DIC), leg II (right) and leg III (left) region, dorsal view. C Tholoarctus oleseni, male, light microscopy (DIC), ventral view. D Tholoarctus oleseni, male, SEM, ventro-sagittal view. D2 Tholoarctus oleseni, male, SEM, leg III, note sensory organ (arrowhead).Abbreviations: an—anus, cA—cirrus A, cE—cirrus E, ec—external cirrus, ed—external digit, go— gonopore, ic—internal cirrus, id—internal digit, mc—median cirrus, oe—outer epicuticle, pc—primary clava, pi—cuticular pilars, sc—secondary clava, se—leg sensory organ.