Tenuibiotus bozhkae Pilato, Kiosya, Lisi, Inshina & Biserov, 2011, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Pilato, Giovanni
name: Kiosya, Yevgen
name: Lisi, Oscar
name: Inshina, Valentina
name: Biserov, Vladimir
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Tardigrada
Eutardigrada
Parachela
Macrobiotidae
Tenuibiotus
Tenuibiotus bozhkae

description: Tenuibiotus bozhkae sp. nov.
(Figs. 2, 3 and 4A–C)
Material examined. Crimean Peninsula, Kerch Peninsula, Mount Opuk (45°2ʹ15ʺN, 36°13ʹ25ʺE), collector V.V. Inshina from mosses on soil, July 2007; Holotype, five paratypes and additional 92 specimens and 38 eggs.
Type repository. Holotype (slide No. 5423), five paratypes (slide No. 5423) and three eggs with fully developed embryos (slides No. 5423, 5424) are deposited in the collection of Binda & Pilato (Museum of the Department of Animal Biology “Marcello La Greca”, University of Catania, Italy). Other specimens are deposited in the Kiosya's collection (School of Biology, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine).
Specific diagnosis. Eye spots present; cuticle smooth without pores; two small gibbosities present on each hind leg; pharyngeal bulb with three macroplacoids and microplacoid; no cuticular bar present on the legs; eggs with long conical processes (about 18 µm long); process surface with a reticular ornamentation with almost isodiametric mesh; egg shell with a very delicate reticular design.
Description of the holotype. Body length 522 µm; colorless; eye spots present; cuticle smooth without pores, but with small dots on the legs, more evident on the hind legs.
Bucco-pharyngeal apparatus of the Macrobiotus type (Fig. 2 A–C). Mouth terminal with ten small peribuccal lamellae; buccal cavity small with a posterior ring of small teeth and three small dorsal and three ventral transverse ridges. Rigid buccal tube 41.6 µm long and 4.5 µm wide externally (pt = 10.8). Ventral lamina about 28.5 µm long (measured on lateral view) (pt = about 68.5); stylet supports inserted on the buccal tube at 73.8 % of its length (pt = 73.8). Pharyngeal bulb (37.6 µm x 29.0 µm) with apophyses, three macroplacoids and microplacoid (Fig.2 A, C). First macroplacoid 6.4 µm long (pt = 15.4), second 4.9 µm (pt = 11.8), third 6.1 µm (pt = 14.7), microplacoid 3.3 µm long (pt = 7.9); entire placoid row 21.9 µm long (pt = 52.6); macroplacoid row 18.3 µm (pt = 44.0).
Claws of the tenuis - type, i.e. thin and slender, with a long common section in which primary and secondary branches are joined, and distal free sections of both the secondary branch (shorter than the primary) and primary branch almost form a right angle (Fig. 3). As a consequence of the claw orientation, the angle between the branches may appear slightly variable (see, Pilato & Lisi, 2011). External and internal claws of the first pair of legs 10.9 µm (pt = 26.2) and 10.3 µm (pt = 24.8) respectively; 12.3 µm (pt = 29.6) and 12.0 µm (pt = 28.8) respectively on the second and third pairs of legs; posterior and anterior claws of the hind legs 14.3 µm (pt = 34.4) and 13.5 µm (pt = 32.5) respectively. All main branches with accessory points. Lunules present; smooth on the first three pairs of legs, larger and with dentate margin on the hind legs (Fig. 3 C). No cuticular bar present on the legs. Near the claws on the hind legs two small dorsal, dotted gibbosities were present (Fig. 3 C, D).
Description of the eggs. The eggs, laid freely, were spherical with long conical processes (Fig. 4A, B); we were only able to measure one egg, which had a diameter of 87 µm, excluding the processes, 123 µm including; the processes, 30 around the circumference and about 120 in the hemisphere, were conical, long and flexible, 18.2– 18.6 µm tall, with basal diameter of 6.1–6.3 long µm.
Other eggs were slightly larger and had slightly less numerous but larger processes (up to 20.3 µm tall with basal diameter up to 9.1 µm). Each process had a ring of basal dots (Fig. 4A and 4C, arrow a); the process surface had a reticular ornamentation with almost isodiametric mesh (Fig. 4A, B); the egg shell had a very delicate reticular design, which was difficult to see. (Fig. 4C, arrow b).
Remarks. The paratypes were similar to the holotype in both qualitative and metric characters. The measurements of the holotype and a paratype are given in Table 2.
Etymology. The specific name bozhkae refers to Maria Pavlivna Bozhko, who was one of the first tardigrade researchers in Ukraine.
Differential dignosis. Tenuibiotus bozhkae sp. nov. differed from all the other species of the genus by the presence of two small gibbosities on each hind leg (Fig. 3 C, D) and, with the exception of T. willardi, in having three macroplacoids. Additional differences were found in characters such as: presence of eye spots, value of the pt index relative to the stylet supports insertion point, and characters of the eggs.
The only previously known Tenuibiotus with three macroplacoids was T. willardi. In comparison the new species differed from T. willardi in having two small gibbosities on each hind leg; having shorter and narrower buccal tube (see: Table 2; Figs. 2 A and 4D), stylet supports inserted on the buccal tube in a more cephalic position (pt = about 74 in T. bozhkae s p. n. and about 79 in T. willardi); shorter placoids and shorter claws (see Table 2 for details). The pt values relative to the claw length appeared to be similar in the two species because the buccal tube of T. willardi was longer than that of T. bozhkae sp. n. with respect to the body length (Table 2).
For some characters, particularly shape and size of the claws, T. bozhkae sp. n. was similar to T. ciprianoi (Guil, Guidetti & Machordom, 2007) but it differed by the presence of three macroplacoids, and two small gibbosities on each hind leg; as well as having a ring of small teeth in the caudal portion of the buccal cavity, and in details of the eggs: the processes had a ring of basal dots, the egg shell a reticular design, basal diameter of the processes slightly smaller.
description: Published as part of Pilato, Giovanni, Kiosya, Yevgen, Lisi, Oscar, Inshina, Valentina & Biserov, Vladimir, 2011, Annotated list of Tardigrada records from Ukraine with the description of three new species, pp. 1-31 in Zootaxa 3123 on pages 4-9, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.279398