Green armoured tardigrades (Echiniscidae: Viridiscus), including a new species from the Southern Nearctic, exemplify problems with tardigrade variability research
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Ranges of tardigrade intraspecific and interspecific variability are not precisely defined, both in terms of morphology and genetics, rendering descriptions of new taxa a cumbersome task. This contribution enhances the morphological and molecular dataset available for the heterotardigrade genus Viridiscus by supplying new information on Southern Nearctic populations of V. perviridis, V. viridianus, and a new species from Tennessee. We demonstrate that, putting aside already well-documented cases of significant variability in chaetotaxy, the dorsal plate sculpturing and other useful diagnostic characters, such as morphology of clavae and pedal platelets, may also be more phenotypically plastic characters at the species level than previously assumed. As a result of our integrative analyses, V. viridianus is redescribed, V. celatus sp. nov. described, and V. clavispinosus designated as nomen inquirendum, and its junior synonymy with regard to V. viridianus suggested. Morphs of three Viridiscus species (V. perviridis, V. viridianus, and V. viridissimus) are depicted, and the implications for general echiniscid taxonomy are drawn. We emphasise that taxonomic conclusions reached solely through morphological or molecular analyses lead to a distorted view on tardigrade α-diversity.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Artikelnummer | 16329 |
| Tidsskrift | Scientific Reports |
| Vol/bind | 13 |
| Antal sider | 24 |
| ISSN | 2045-2322 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 2023 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:
Roberto Guidetti (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy) and the Civic Museum of Natural History in Verona kindly made the Bertolani, Ramazzotti and Maucci collections available for examination. Andrzej Ostoja-Wilamowski kindly helped with DNA sequencing. PG and ŁM were funded by the Polish National Science Centre via the ‘Preludium’ (grant no. 2019/33/N/NZ8/02777) and ‘Sonata Bis’ programmes (grant no. 2016/22/E/NZ8/00417). This is contribution #1604 from the Institute of Environment at Florida International University. For SM, JL and JP, this material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 2225683. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Funding Information:
Roberto Guidetti (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy) and the Civic Museum of Natural History in Verona kindly made the Bertolani, Ramazzotti and Maucci collections available for examination. Andrzej Ostoja-Wilamowski kindly helped with DNA sequencing. PG and ŁM were funded by the Polish National Science Centre via the ‘Preludium’ (grant no. 2019/33/N/NZ8/02777) and ‘Sonata Bis’ programmes (grant no. 2016/22/E/NZ8/00417). This is contribution #1604 from the Institute of Environment at Florida International University. For SM, JL and JP, this material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 2225683. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Springer Nature Limited.
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