Tardigrades from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau (China) with description of two new species in the genera Mixibius (Eutardigrada: Hypsibiidae) and Pseudechiniscus (Heterotardigrada: Echiniscidae)

Abstract

A checklist of 63 species of tardigrades from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is given in this paper. Twenty species of tardigades that had never been found in the Yunnan-Guizou Plateau were reported; four of them are new records for China, and two of them are new to science. Pseudechiniscus yunnanensis sp. n. is similar to Pseudechiniscus pilatoi Li, 2007. It differs from P. pilatoi by a different pseudosegmental plate with two triangle-shaped lobes, the first and second paired-plates with a small lobe on the posterior edge. Mixibius pilatoi sp. n. differs from M. saracenus Pilato, 1973 and M. fueginus Pilato and Binda, 1997 by the presence of lunulae; it differs from M. ninguidus Biserov, 1999, M. ornatus Pilato, Binda, Napolitano, and Moncada, 2002, M. sutirae Pilato, Binda, and Lisi, 2004 and M. tibetanus Li and Li, 2008 by having a smooth cuticle.

Keywords:

• Tardigrada
• new species
• new record
• Pseudechiniscus yunnanensis sp. n.
• Mixibius pilatoi sp. n.
• Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau
• China

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30770254) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Institute of Education (No. 07KJ37Q). I appreciate the referees' valuable comments on the manuscript.