Tardigrades of the Ivohibory forest (south-central Madagascar) with a description of a new Bryodelphax species

Abstract

In this paper, samples of mosses and lichens collected from Ivohibory Forest (south-central Madagascar) were studied in search for tardigrades. In total, 39 tardigrade taxa were identified, 21 of which are new records for Madagascar. Moreover, one of these is a new species for science. Bryodelphax beniowskii sp. nov., described here based on morphological analysis. It is most similar to Bry. olszanowskii and Bry. parvuspolaris, but differs from them mainly by ventral plates arrangement and some other morphometric characters.

Keywords

• Bryodelphax beniowskii sp. nov.
• heterotardigrada
• Madagascar
• Tardigrada
• taxonomy