Echiniscus reticulatus Murray, 1905a

Kaczmarek, Łukasz, 2017, Annotated zoogeography of non-marine Tardigrada. Part IV: Africa, Zootaxa 4284 (1), pp. 1-74 : 15

32. Echiniscus reticulatus Murray, 1905a [T]

Echiniscus Reticulatus J. Murray, 1905 ( Teunissen 1938)

Terra typica : Scotland (Europe)

Democratic Republic of Congo:

• 01°18′S, 29°29′E; 2,250 m asl [2,100 m asl]: North Kivu Province, Albert National Park [Virunga National Park], Tshamugussa (Bweza area, SW[sic] (north west) of Visoke and Musule volcanoes), soil. Teunissen (1938)

Record numbers. Democratic Republic of Congo: 1; total: 1.

Remarks. A species known from a few (Asian and European) Palaearctic localities ( McInnes 1994); but this single African/ tropical report requires confirmation. Echiniscus reticulatus belongs to the arctomys group, which is currently considered a species complex nested within the larger (possibly polyphyletic) ‘ arctomys group’ – sensu Ramazzotti & Maucci 1983). This African record requires an integrated morphological/ molecular verification.