Macrobiotus hibiscus

Kaczmarek, Łukasz, Michalczyk, Łukasz & Mcinnes, Sandra J., 2015, Annotated zoogeography of non-marine Tardigrada. Part II: South America, Zootaxa 3923 (1), pp. 1-107 : 67

164. Macrobiotus hibiscus de Barros, 1942b [T]

M. hibiscus Barros, 1942 ( Claps & Rossi 1981, 1984)

Macrobiotus hibiscus n. sp. (de Barros 1942b)

Macrobiotus hibiscus Barros, 1942 ( Rossi & Claps 1980)

Terra typica: Brazil (South America)

Argentina:

• 24°55′S, 64°09′W; 400 m asl: Salta Province, road from Las Lajitas to J.V. González, lichens on tree in the mountains. Claps & Rossi (1984)

• 36°22′S, 56°43′W; 0 m asl: Buenos Aires Province, San Clemente del Tuy, lichens on tree ( Eucalyptus coppice) in full sun. Rossi & Claps (1980)

• 40°50′S, 71°38′W; 900 m asl: Neuquén Province, Peninsula de Quetrihue, semi-wet and dry, mosses on tree in coppice, mosses on rock and soil in the forest and lichens on trees (4 samples). Claps & Rossi (1981)

Brazil:

• 21°46′S, 47°05′W; 700 m asl: Type Locality: São Paulo State, Casa Branca. de Barros (1942b)

Ecuador:

• 02°11′S, 79°53′W; 0 m asl: Guayaquil, mixture of moss and lichen ( Physcia sp.) on trees. Schuster & Grigarick (1966)

Record numbers: Argentina: 3, Brazil: 1, Ecuador: 1; total: 5.

Remarks: There has been some discussion over whether Macrobiotus hibiscus is a junior synonym of Macrobiotus hufelandi as the morphology of this species falls within the Macrobiotus hufelandi group diagnosis (e.g. Kathman 1990). This is a group that requires careful taxonomic analysis, including egg morphology, for correct identification (see Bertolani & Rebecchi 1993 for a diagnostic key and other papers for more recent species descriptions: e.g. Pilato et al. 2003b, Kaczmarek & Michalczyk 2004, Fontoura et al. 2008, Bartels et al. 2009, Kaczmarek & Michalczyk 2009b, Guidetti et al. 2013). Further work will be required on the type material or type locale to clarify the status and biogeography of this species.