New species and records of tardigrades from a biological repository collection from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

Abstract

Abstract The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM) is a mountain range in northern Colombia, recognized for its high biological richness. To date, the existence of 27 species of tardigrades is known for this particular region. Morphological and morphometric analysis of 51 specimens, found in 16 samples of bryophytes and lichens collected at the SNSM, and deposited in the tardigrade collection of the “Centro de Colecciones Científicas de la Universidad del Magdalena” between 2011 and 2016 was carried out. The species Mixibius gibbosus sp. nov. is described based on the following main traits: presence of gibbosities (up to date never reported for any species of the genus Mixibius), isodiametric tubercles and relevant morphometric differences with respect to the most similar congeneric species. Additionally, the species Diphascon pingue pingue sensu lato, Hypsibius cf. allisoni and Adropion onorei are, for the first time, recorded for Colombia and the latter is recorded for the first time out of Ecuador. All records are new for the SNSM.

Keywords

• Biological collections
• Eutardigrada
• Mixibius
• morphometry
• Tardigrada
• water bears