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The Macrobiotus persimilis-polonicus complex (Eutardigrada, Macrobiotidae), another example of problematic species identification, with the description of four new species

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Abstract

In the phylum Tardigrada, as in other meiofauna taxa, the small size of the animals and the paucity of morphological characters useful for taxonomy present a challenge for systematic studies. For this reason, an integrated approach is increasingly desirable, including at least morphology, morphometry and molecular investigations, and possibly reproductive biology, ecology, physiology and other approaches. In this light, we analysed different populations of Macrobiotus (Eutardigrada, Macrobiotidae) from Italy, France and Poland with persimilis type of eggs and with very similar animals. We compared the morphology and morphometry of the type materials of Macrobiotus persimilis and Macrobiotus polonicus with those of newly collected populations, which were also analysed from a molecular (cox1 mtDNA and 18S rDNA) and reproductive perspective. Our data confirmed the presence of a persimilis-polonicus complex, recognizable by very similar characters of the animals and the eggs. It comprises M. persimilis, M. polonicus, four new morphologically distinguishable species described in this paper (Macrobiotus dolosus sp. nov., Macrobiotus siderophilus sp. nov., Macrobiotus fontourai sp. nov., Macrobiotus muralis sp. nov.) and other species very similar from a morphological point of view. Molecular data, retrieved for the first three new species, reveal that they have very high genetic distances for cox1 (16.0–17.7%). Furthermore, we have been able to verify that more than one species of this complex can cohabit in the same moss. A wider persimilis group, comprising the persimilis-polonicus complex, could also be identified only on morphological basis.

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All data is published in the manuscript. Sequences are deposited in GenBank.

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Acknowledgements

This research is part of the project MoDNA, supported by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena (Italy) and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Modena, Italy). We are especially grateful to Professor Diane R. Nelson, East Tennessee State University, for her valuable suggestions and English revision of the text. Our thanks to the Civic Museum of Natural History in Verona, Italy, for the availability of the Maucci’s collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education and Humanities, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Roberto Bertolani & Ilaria Giovannini

  2. Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Verona, Italy

    Roberto Bertolani

  3. Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via G. Campi 213/d, 41125, Modena, Italy

    Michele Cesari, Ilaria Giovannini, Lorena Rebecchi & Roberto Guidetti

  4. NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy

    Michele Cesari, Lorena Rebecchi & Roberto Guidetti

  5. Department of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poznań, Poland

    Łukasz Kaczmarek

  6. Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Giovanni Pilato

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Correspondence to Michele Cesari.

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Bertolani, R., Cesari, M., Giovannini, I. et al. The Macrobiotus persimilis-polonicus complex (Eutardigrada, Macrobiotidae), another example of problematic species identification, with the description of four new species. Org Divers Evol 23, 329–368 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-022-00599-z

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