Echiniscus manuelae, da Cunha & do Nascimento Ribeiro, 1962

Gąsiorek, Piotr & Vončina, Katarzyna, 2023, Atlas of the Echiniscidae (Heterotardigrada) of the World-part I: West Palaearctic Echiniscus species, Zootaxa 5344 (1), pp. 1-72 : 35-36

12. Echiniscus manuelae da Cunha & do Nascimento Ribeiro, 1962

Locus typicus: Portugal, Madeira, Caniço.

Additional localities: (1) Argentina, Corrientes ( Claps & Rossi 1988); (2) 10°00’10”N, 84°06’46”W, 1161 m asl: Costa Rica, Heredia Province, Heredia ( Kaczmarek & Michalczyk 2010); (3) Argentina, Salta ( Rocha et al. 2016); (4) 0°54’55’’N, 31°04’44’’E, 1188 m asl: Uganda, Western Region, Kibaale District ( Gąsiorek & Kristensen 2018); (5) 25°21’55’’N, 100°14’02’’W, ca. 1411 m asl: Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Santiago, Cienega de Gonzalez ( Moreno-Talamantes et al. 2019); (6) ca. 46°43’E, 22°37’S: Madagascar, Fianarantsoa Province, Ivohibory Forest ( Bartylak et al. 2022); (7) 26°17’23’’S, 53°46’29’’W, 751 m asl: Argentina, Misiones, vicinity of Campina de América ( Gąsiorek et al. 2021d); (8) 24°40’12’’S, 65°22’31’’W, 1356 m asl: Argentina, Salta, vicinity of Ruta Provincial 11 ( Gąsiorek et al. 2021d).

Etymology: A matronym honouring Maria Manuela da Gama. A noun in the genitive singular.

Shortened description: Small to medium-sized (ca. 140–245 μm). Body appendage configuration A-(B)-C- Cd- D-Dd- E, with spines Cd, Dd, and E typically longer than remaining spines, and usually serrated. Dorsal plate sculpturing consisting of large pores solely, with dark intracuticular rings (the spinulosus type). Caudal plate with one median and one transverse epicuticular ridge interconnecting incisions. Dentate collar IV with many (ca. 10 on average) acute teeth. Claws of a moderate size with respect to the body length, with minute primary spurs closely positioned to claw bases.

Phylogenetic position: The species is firmly located within the spinulosus morphogroup, being sister to E. tristis Gąsiorek & Kristensen, 2018 (Figs 1–2).

Remarks: The current depiction of E. manuelae is based on Afrotropical and Neotropical individuals ( Gąsiorek & Kristensen 2018; Gąsiorek et al. 2021d), which were demonstrated to belong to one species. Thus, the species has a broad geographic distribution within the subtropical/tropical regions of Africa and Central/South America, but our attempts to resample it from the type locality in Madeira, which is the only known Palaearctic record, were unsuccessful. The main taxonomic problem with E. manuelae is its vague distinction with E. duboisi Richters, 1902 nom. inq., which probably occurs only in Australasia.