Macrobiotus recens Cuénot 1932

Guil, Noemí, 2008, New records and within-species variability of Iberian tardigrades (Tardigrada), with comments on the species from the Echiniscus blumi-canadensis series, Zootaxa 1757, pp. 1-30 : 23

Macrobiotus recens Cuénot 1932

I isolated 17 specimens and 11 eggs, found in all samples, from LF and MR samples. Cuticle with small round pores. Buccal armature had a strong posterior band of teeth, a weak anterior band of teeth, not always clearly visible on light microscopy, and a transverse crest system. We have found irregular margins for lunules in the fourth pair of legs in the majority of specimens but small teeth in some specimens from two samples in LF and MR. Eggs had cone-shaped processes, sometimes bifid, with rough surface, and granulated egg surface between the processes. We have observed ocular spots in seven specimens but they were not present in ten specimens. Mean body size was 879 μm (SD 229), range 484 to 1320 μm. This species has been cited for Europe, Asia, America and Oceania. In the Iberian Peninsula, it has been recorded for Portugal ( Maucci 1979; Fontoura 1981, 1982; Maucci & Durante Pasa 1984, 1985) and Spain ( Maucci & Durante Pasa 1984), but this is the first time this species have been found in Madrid ( Table 2 ). Macrobiotus recens was detected at four of the sampling points (Table 3).