Tanarctus hirsutospinosus Jørgensen, Boesgaard, Møbjerg & Kristensen, 2014

Kaczmarek, Łukasz, Bartels, Paul J., Roszkowska, Milena & Nelson, Diane R., 2015, The Zoogeography of Marine Tardigrada, Zootaxa 4037 (1), pp. 1-189 : 124

136. Tanarctus hirsutospinosus Jørgensen, Boesgaard, Møbjerg & Kristensen, 2014

Tanarctus hirsutospinosus nov. sp. (Jørgensen et al. 2014)

Terra typica : Tasman Sea ( Australia)

Tasman Sea:

• 30°27′S, 152°32′E; 34 m bsl: [FAO81] Australia, New South Wales State, South of Tancurry, 3 km off the coast, Jim’s Cave near Seal Rock, coarse coralligenous and detritus-rich sand. Jørgensen et al. (2014)

• 30°56′S, 153°06′E; 18–20 m bsl: [FAO81] Type Locality: Australia, New South Wales State, S of South West Rocks, 3 km of the coast from the base of Smoky Cape Lighthouse, Fish Rock Island, Fish Rock Cave, coarse coralligenous sand rich in detritus. Jørgensen et al. (2014)

Record numbers (Sea/Ocean classification): Tasman Sea: 2; total: 2.

Record numbers (FAO classification): FAO81: 2; total: 2.

Remarks: This recently described subtidal species is known only from caves at the type locality and a neighbouring site. While many Tanarctus taxa are known from subtidal and intertidal zones, Tanarctus species have been reported from considerable depths (down to ca. 4000 m bsl), which combined with the suggested links between marine cave and deep sea habitats ( Hart et al. 1985; Villora-Moreno 1996) indicates a possible affinity between T. hirsutospinosus and the deep sea Tanarctus (for more details about the relationship of deep sea and cave species see remarks for P. mirabilis ).