Paramacrobiotus kenianus Schill, Förster, Dandekar & Wolf, 2010

Kaczmarek, Łukasz, 2017, Annotated zoogeography of non-marine Tardigrada. Part IV: Africa, Zootaxa 4284 (1), pp. 1-74 : 55

157. Paramacrobiotus kenianus Schill, Förster, Dandekar & Wolf, 2010 [T]

Macrobiotus ‘richtersi groups’ 1 and 2 ( Hengherr et al. 2008, 2009a)

Macrobiotus ‘richtersi groups’ 2 and 1 ( Hengherr et al. 2009b)

Macrobiotus ‘richtersi groups’ 2 and 3 ( Guidetti et al. 2009)

Paramacrobiotus kenianus sp. nov. ( Schill et al. 2010)

Terra typica : Kenya (Africa)

Kenya:

• 00°18′S; 36°05′E; 1,800 m asl: Type Locality: Nakuru County, Nakuru, moss. Hengherr et al. (2008, 2009a, b), Guidetti et al. (2009), Schill et al. (2010)

• 00°43′S; 36°26′E; 1,900 m asl: Nakuru County, Naivasha, moss. Hengherr et al. (2008, 2009a, b), Guidetti et al. (2009), Schill et al. (2010)

Record numbers. Kenya: 2; total: 2.

Remarks. This species, identified only via DNA barcoding and biophysical data, is morphologically identical to P. richtersi ( Guidetti et al. 2009, Schill et al. 2010). The International Commission of the Zoological Nomenclature code states, “An author, when drawing up the description of a new nominal taxon, should include comparisons with appropriate related taxa in order to assist later identification of the taxon. Namebearing type material should be illustrated (or a reference given to such illustration).” (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ hosted-sites/iczn/code/index.jsp?nfv=true&booksection=appendixB). This taxon, in the absence of such illustration, remains a cryptic species identifiable only via DNA and biophysical data. Currently endemic to Kenya.