First data about marine tardigrades from Andalusia (South Spain) and first record of the genus Archechiniscus Schultz, 1953 in the Iberian Peninsula
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1
Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
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2
Departament of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
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3
Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Portugal
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4
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biology. University of Seville, Spain
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5
Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Faculty of Experimental Sciences, Pablo de Olavide University, Spain
Marine tardigrade fauna of Andalusia remains unexplored despite the high diversity and the high number of endemic species of other taxa found in this area. A first exploratory study to fill this gap is presented here. Tardigrades were collected from sand samples collected from the intertidal at Punta Umbria beach, Huelva (Atlantic coast) and from samples of Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamark 1819 and Perforatus perforates (Bruguière, 1789) scraped from rocky natural and manmade substrates at Algeciras harbour (Mediterranean coast). All the tardigrades were mounted in microslides using glycerine and sealed with nail varnish. Animals were measured and photomicrographed under x100 oil immersion, using a Zeiss Differential Interference Contrast Microscope (DIC) equipped with digital camera and Zen Imaging Software. Two species of tardigrades were found in sand samples Batillipes pennaki Marcus, 1946 and Batillipes phreaticus Renaud-Debyser, 1959. Probably these two species of Batillipes are the commonest at intertidal sandy beaches of the Iberian Peninsula. Recently, the cosmopolitan nature of B. pennaki was refuted and it is now considered a species complex, with specimens recorded from the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula showing important morphological differences from Atlantic American and Mediterranean individuals. The specimens recorded from Punta Umbria fits well with individuals from the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula in all traits, namely in the morphology of primary clavae and leg IV sensory organs. In the rocky substrates, we found two species undescribed species of the genus Styraconyx Thulin, 1942 and one individual of the genus Archechiniscus Schultz, 1953. This is the first record of the genus Archechiniscus for the Iberian Peninsula. Results suggest that marine tardigrade fauna for Andalusia can be diverse and may harbour many undescribed species
Keywords:
Tardigrada,
intertidal,
soft bottom,
hard bottom,
Andalusia (Southern Spain)
Conference:
XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) , Braga, Portugal, 9 Sep - 12 Sep, 2019.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Ecology, Biodiversity and Vulnerable Ecosystems
Citation:
Rubal
M,
Fontoura
P,
Veiga
P,
Vera
FS,
García-García
FJ and
Guerra-García
J
(2019). First data about marine tardigrades from Andalusia (South Spain) and first record of the genus Archechiniscus Schultz, 1953 in the Iberian Peninsula.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) .
doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.08.00162
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Received:
20 May 2019;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Mx. Marcos Rubal, Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Matosinhos, Portugal, mrubalg@hotmail.com