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Issue: Vol. 2343 No. 1: 25 Jan. 2010
Type: Articles
Published: 2010-01-25
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2343.1.4
Page range: 45–56
Abstract views: 71
PDF downloaded: 3

The first record of the genus Bryodelphax (Tardigrada: Heterotardigrada: Echiniscidae) from Easter Island, Rapa Nui (Pacific Ocean, Chile) with the description of a new species, Bryodelphax aaseae

Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
Department of Animal Taxonomy & Ecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, A. Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland
Tardigrada Bryodelphax aaseae new species SEM micrographs Easter Island

Abstract

A new heterotardigrade, Bryodelphax aaseae sp. nov. is described from a small moss sample collected in the Rano Kau Crater on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in 1989. The new species belongs to the group of species within the genus that have ventral plates. B. aaseae sp. nov. is similar to B. weglarskae (Pilato, 1972), B. sinensis (Pilato, 1974) and B. iohannis Bertolani, Guidi & Rebecchi, 1995 but differs from them mainly by a different number and arrangement of ventral plates. This is the first record of the genus Bryodelphax from Easter Island/Rapa Nui.

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