Batillipes adriaticus Grimaldi de Zio, Morone De Lucia, D’Addabbo Gallo & Grimaldi, 1979

Santos, Erika, Rubal, Marcos, Veiga, Puri, da Rocha, Clélia M. C. & Fontoura, Paulo, 2018, Batillipes (Tardigrada, Arthrotardigrada) from the Portuguese coast with the description of two new species and a new dichotomous key for all species, European Journal of Taxonomy 425, pp. 1-32 : 4-5

Batillipes adriaticus Grimaldi de Zio, Morone De Lucia, D’Addabbo Gallo & Grimaldi, 1979

Material examined

PORTUGAL: 1 ♀ collected at Portinho da Arrábida Beach, mounted in PVA (slide C. IX-71), and 14 specimens (9 ♀♀, 1 ♂, 3 juveniles and 1 four-toed larva, all mounted in glycerol), collected at Vasco da Gama Beach (slides C. IX-75, C. IX-80 – C. IX-91).

Remarks

The specimens clearly correspond to the original description of Grimaldi de Zio et al. (1979). The main characteristic of this species is its dorsal cuticle sculpture constituted by large pillars, appearing as large tubercles (diameter about 2–3 µm); ventrally the cuticle exhibits the fine punctuation as do the majority of Batillipes species. Cephalic appendages have a lance-like tip and papillary secondary clavae are present. Between legs III and IV, an acute sculptured conical body projection is present. Lateral body projections between the first three pairs of legs are not referred to by Grimaldi de Zio et al. (1979). However, in some Portuguese specimens, small blunt ventro-lateral body projections are visible. The caudal appendage is a long spine inserted on a cylindrical base. Middle toes (3 and 4) on feet of legs IV are of similar length. Sensory organs are present on all legs, considerably long on legs IV.

The specific characters of the species: dorsal sculpture, conical lateral body projection between legs III–IV and spine-like caudal appendage are already present in the four-toed larva.

Distribution

Up to now, this species had only been reported from the Mediterranean Basin (Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea, see Kaczmarek et al. 2015). This is its first record for the Atlantic Ocean.

Associated species

Batillipes phreaticus and H. greveni .