Description

Diagnosis. Body transparent / white, eyes present in three of the four specimens mounted in Hoyer’s medium (Fig. 5 A). Dorsal cuticle sculptured: from head to legs II without delicate thickenings, from legs II to the caudal end of the body thickened, with irregular thickenings that form large wrinkles from legs III to the caudal end (Figs. 5 A – C). Thickenings increasing in size from the anterior to the posterior part of the body, reaching maximum dimensions between legs III and IV (Figs. 5 A – C). Ventral cuticle smooth. Buccal apparatus short and rigid (Fig. 5 D). Teeth in the oral cavity armature absent or not visible under PCM. Pharynx with apophyses and with two rodshaped macroplacoids. Macroplacoid length sequence 2 <1. Microplacoid and septulum absent (Fig. 5 D). Claws of the scabropygus - type, internal claws much smaller and of a different shape than the external claws (Fig. 5 E). All primary branches with accessory points. Smooth, indistinct pseudolunulae under claws more visible on external claws (Fig. 4 E). Cuticular bars under claws I – III absent but a small bar is present near the posterior claw IV.

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Tardigrada

Class: Eutardigrada

Order: Parachela

Family: Hypsibiidae

Genus: Hypsibius

Species: Hypsibius Ehrenberg, 1848