Archechiniscus minutus Grimaldi

Kaczmarek, Łukasz, Bartels, Paul J., Roszkowska, Milena & Nelson, Diane R., 2015, The Zoogeography of Marine Tardigrada, Zootaxa 4037 (1), pp. 1-189 : 9

3. Archechiniscus minutus Grimaldi de Zio & D'Addabbo Gallo, 1987

Archechiniscus minutus n. sp. (Grimaldi de Zio & D’Addabbo Gallo 1987) A. minutus Grimaldi de Zio & D'Addabbo Gallo, 1987 (D’Addabbo Gallo et al. 1987) Terra typica: Ionian Sea ( Italy, Europe)

Adriatic Sea:

• 40°43′N, 17°48′30′′E; 20–34 m bsl: [FAO37] Italy, Brindisi Province, Torre Guateco [Riserva Naturale Torre Guateco], coarse coralligenous debris. Grimaldi de Zio & D’Addabbo Gallo (1987)

• 40°08′N, 18°32′E; 9–15 m bsl: [FAO37] Italy, Lecce Province, near Otranto, coarse coralligenous debris. Grimaldi de Zio & D’Addabbo Gallo (1987)

• 40°08′N, 18°32′E; 4–10 m bsl: [FAO37] Italy, Lecce Province, near Otranto, eel-grass meadow, sand. Grimaldi de Zio & D’Addabbo Gallo (1987)

Indian Ocean:

• 03°57′N, 73°25′E; 5–41 m bsl: [FAO51] Republic of the Maldives, Male Sud Atoll, coarse sand. Gallo et al. (2007)

Ionian Sea:

• 39°51′N, 18°07′E; 9–15 m bsl: [FAO37] Italy, Lecce Province, Ugento [near Fontanelle and Torre Mozza], eel-grass meadow, sand. Grimaldi de Zio & D’Addabbo Gallo (1987)

• 39°52′00′′N, 16°42′30′′E; 20–35 m bsl: [FAO37] Type Locality: Italy, Cosenza Province, High Ionian Sea offshore, Calabrian Coast, Amendolara Shoal, coralligenous, coralligenous mixed with debris, coarse medium or fine coralligenous. D’Addabbo Gallo et al. (1987), Grimaldi de Zio & D’Addabbo Gallo (1987), Grimaldi de Zio et al. (2003)

Tyrrhenian Sea:

• 40°20′30′′N, 09°40′15′′E; 0–80<m bsl: [FAO37] Italy, Sardinia Island, Nuoro Province, Orosei Gulf, pure sand, coastal organogenic debris, coralligenous debris mud or Posidonia seagrass meadows. D’Addabbo Gallo et al. (1989), Grimaldi de Zio & D’Addabbo Gallo (2001)

• 38°36′N, 14°55′E; 40 m bsl: [FAO37] Italy, Aeolian Islands, Secca del Capo, coralligenous bank, subtidal zone, coarse coralligenous detritus. Grimaldi de Zio & D’Addabbo Gallo (2001)

Record numbers (Sea/Ocean classification): Adriatic Sea: 3, Indian Ocean: 1, Ionian Sea: 2, Tyrrhenian Sea: 2; total: 8.

Record numbers (FAO classification): FAO37: 7, FAO51: 1; total: 8.

Remarks: This species is known mainly from the Mediterranean basin with a single record in the Indian Ocean ( Maldives). It is an intertidal or subtidal species collected from different types of sand from 0 to 80 m bsl (most often ca. 20 m bsl).