Itaquascon placophorum Maucci 1972

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 : 19

Itaquascon placophorum Maucci 1972

Specimens with buccal-pharyngeal apparatus divided into a rigid buccal tube and a flexible tube, with stylet supports. Strips present within the pharyngeal bulb. Double-claws showed spines in their basal expansions. I have observed cuticular bars at the inner double-claws of the second and third pair of legs, only in the specimens from two out of the five samples where this species have been collected. Absence of these cuticular bars cannot be considered, since not seeing them could be caused by the position of the specimens. One out of the eight specimens collected showed ocular spots. Mean body size was 648 μm (SD 147), range 418 to 891 μm. The species has been cited for Europe. This is the first time it is recorded for the Iberian Peninsula ( Table 2 ). Itaquascon placophorum was recovered in five sampling points (Table 3) from LF and MR samples.