Dactylobiotus ambiguus ( Murray, 1907e )

Kaczmarek, Łukasz, 2017, Annotated zoogeography of non-marine Tardigrada. Part IV: Africa, Zootaxa 4284 (1), pp. 1-74 : 58-59

164. Dactylobiotus ambiguus ( Murray, 1907e) [F]

? MacRobiotus ambiguus J. Murr. ( Marcus 1933) Dactylobiotus ambiguus ( Ramløv & Kristensen 1985) Terra typica : Hungary (Europe)

Algeria:

• 30°32′N, 02°55′E; 350 m asl: Ghardaïa Province, El Golea [ El Ménia ], lakes in the oasis, on the banks of a weak saline lake, between aquatic plants. Marcus (1933)

Morocco:

• 31°35′N, 05°36′W; 1,650 m asl: Souss-Massa-Drâa Region, Todra [Todgha] Gorge , moss from running water (source at the hotel). Ramløv & Kristensen (1985)

• 30°53′N, 07°14′W; 1,400 m asl: Souss-Massa-Drâa Region, camp at Iriri River , sludge and algae from running water. Ramløv & Kristensen (1985)

Record numbers. Algeria: 1, Morocco: 2; total: 3.

Remarks. Distribution is largely Palaearctic or high latitude Holarctic ( McInnes 1994a). Dactylobiotus species require careful analysis of both adults and eggs for confident identification (e.g. Kaczmarek et al. 2012b) and, as Marcus (1933) questioned his identification because the eggs were not found and Ramløv & Kristensen (1985) make no mention of eggs, these North African records need to be confirmed.