Parascon nichollsae Pilato & Lisi, 2004, n. sp.
Creators: name: Pilato, Giovanni
name: Lisi, Oscar
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2004
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Tardigrada
Eutardigrada
Parachela
Hypsibiidae
Parascon
Parascon nichollsae

description: Parascon nichollsae n. sp. (Fig. 2. A –D)   
 Description of the holotype: Body length 220.0 µm, colorless, cuticle smooth without pores, eye spots absent. Bucco­pharyngeal apparatus of Parascon type (Fig. 2 A); buccal tube rigid without ventral lamina, pharyngeal tube rigid without spiral thickening; apophyses for the insertion of the stylet muscles shaped like flat ridges; their caudal processes (very thin and pointing laterally in the genus) not visible due to the orientation of the specimen. No cuticular drop­like thickening present between buccal and pharyngeal tube. Stylet furcae very small, with very short branches, not swollen. Stylet supports present. Total length of the bucco­pharyngeal tube 20.8 µm; buccal tube 15.5 µm long (pbf = 74.5) and 1.5 µm wide (pt = 9.7). Pharyngeal bulb without apophyses and placoids (Fig. 2 A, C). Claws of Hypsibius type (Fig. 2 C); main branches with thin accessory points. On all legs the external claws have, as the other species of genera Parascon, Itaquascon and Astatumen, a slightly forked base. Due to the orientation, we were able to measure only the external claws of the first pair of legs (12.7 µm long: pt = 81.9), the external claws of the second pair of legs (13.4 µm long: pt = 86.5), and the internal claws of the second pair of legs (5.7 µm: pt = 36.8). Lunules and other cuticular thickenings on the legs absent.   
 Differential diagnosis: Up to now only one species of genus Parascon is known: Parascon schusteri Pilato & Binda 1987 (Fig. 2 B) from Tanzania. The new species differs from it in the following features: shorter pharyngeal tube length in relation to the total length of the bucco­pharyngeal tube (see Fig. 2 and the values of the pbf index in table 1), shorter claws with lower values of the pt index (table 1).   
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 Pilato, G. (1981) Analisi di nuovi caratteri nello studio degli Eutardigradi. Animalia, 8, 51–57.   
 Pilato, G. & Binda, M. G. (1987) Parascon schusteri n. gen. n. sp. (Eutardigrada Hypsibiidae, Itaquasconinae). Animalia, 14, 91–97.   
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description: Published as part of Pilato, Giovanni & Lisi, Oscar, 2004, Doryphoribius neglectus sp. n. and Parascon nichollsae sp. n., new species of eutardigrades from Australia, pp. 1-7 in Zootaxa 545 on pages 4-7, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.157549