Echiniscus quadrispinosus Richters, 1902 sensu

Kaczmarek, Łukasz, Michalczyk, Łukasz & Mcinnes, Sandra J., 2015, Annotated zoogeography of non-marine Tardigrada. Part II: South America, Zootaxa 3923 (1), pp. 1-107 : 19-20

40. Echiniscus quadrispinosus Richters, 1902 sensu lato [T]

Echiniscus quadrispinosus Richters ( Heinis 1914)

Terra typica: Germany (Europe)

Colombia:

• 07°09′N, 75°23′W; 1,400 m asl: Antioquia Department, Cafetal La Camelia, hepatic ( Frullania evolita Steph. ), lichens and leaves. Heinis (1914)

• 04°34′N, 74°01′W; 3,400 m asl: Bogota Department, Páramo Cruz Verde, mosses: Pilotrichella flexilis (Sw.) , Leptodontium fuhrmannii n. spec. Heinis (1914)

Record numbers: Colombia: 2; total: 2.

Remarks: There is considerable morphological variation in the global records of E. quadrispinosus , which suggests a species complex. Also, the type locality and majority of the records are Holarctic ( Ramazzotti & Maucci 1983, McInnes 1994a), suggesting this taxon requires re-description of type material and that the South American record should be verified.