A model study for tardigrade identification

Abstract

Using tardigrades from a single moss sample as a case study, we propose a new method for tardigrade species identification, which is often problematic, due to the low number of morphological characters. Identification at generic level was carried out on adults, while morphological analyses were performed on animals (LM) and eggs (LM and SEM), including hologenophores, vouchers used also for molecular analysis of COI mtDNA. This multi-approach method revealed the presence of three species of the “Macrobiotus hufelandi group” instead of the two species identified in a previous study. The validity of the method is shown, indicating that it could be applied to studies of problematic meiofauna taxa.