Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri (Doyère 1840), Doyere, 1840

Guil, Noemí, 2008, New records and within-species variability of Iberian tardigrades (Tardigrada), with comments on the species from the Echiniscus blumi-canadensis series, Zootaxa 1757, pp. 1-30 : 17

Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri (Doyère 1840)

I have isolated 1,476 specimens and seven eggs from the five habitats studied. Large variation was detected in presence or absence of cuticle sculpturing. A mix of specimens with and without sculpturing appeared in the same sample, and samples with only sculptured or unsculptured specimens have been detected as well. A total of 64% of spring and 33% of autumn samples contained only unsculptured specimens. However, 65% autumn and 4% spring samples had only sculptured specimens. I was able to distinguish different degrees of sculpturing, although no spatial or temporal trends were detected. Specimens with a sculptured cuticle often lacked sculpturing in the cephalic region although it was always denser in the caudal zone. Ocular spots were present in 22 specimens, while 1,299 specimens (88%) had no ocular spots (in 155 specimens it was not possible to determine presence or absence of the ocular spots). Mean body size was 521 μm (SD 106), range 197 to 1012 μm. The species is considered cosmopolitan ( McInnes 1994). In the Iberian Peninsula, it has been recorded for Spain ( Rodríguez Roda 1952; Mihelčič 1955; Maucci & Durante Pasa 1984; McInnes 1991; Maucci 1991) and Portugal ( Da Cunha 1941; Fontoura 1981, 1982; Maucci & Durante Pasa 1984, 1985). Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri was collected from 47 sampling points (Table 3).