Diphascon wuyingensis Sun & Zhang & Wang & Zhao & Luo 2020, sp. nov.

Diphascon wuyingensis sp. nov.

(Table 1, Figures 1–3)

Animals (measurements and statistics in Table 2)

Body colourless and slender. Eyes absent (in live specimens) and the cuticle was smooth. Oral cavity armature not visible under PCM. Buccopharyngeal apparatus of the Diphascon type. Apophyses for the insertion of the stylet muscles hook-shaped. The buccopharyngeal tube with a drop-shaped formation on the buccal/pharyngeal tube boundary (Fig. 1B). Muscle pharynx ovoid, with small pharyngeal apophyses and three macroplacoids in the shape of slender rods of increasing length from first to third, with the second clearly longer than the first (macroplacoid length sequence: 1<2<3; Table 2). Microplacoid and septulum absent (Fig. 1 A–C).

Claws of the Hypsibius type, small, without sutures or light-refracting units and pseudolunulae (Fig. 2), but with accessory points on primary branches (Fig. 3D). Cuticular bars under claws absent.

Eggs: Not found.

DNA sequences

The 18S rRNA marker was sequenced for both individual and pooled tardigrades, but COI was successfully sequenced only from one individual tardigrade. All 18S rRNA sequences represented a single haplotype (MK387067) and the sequence was 1716 bp long whereas the COI sequence (MK392633) was 658 bp long (the sequences are also provided in the Appendix 1).

Type locality. 48º07.25’N, 129º11.19’E; 331 m asl: China, Heilongjiang Province, Wuying district of Yichun; habitat: shady urban park; substrate: mosses on a fallen log.

Etymology. The new species is named after the Wuying district of Yichun, China, where it was discovered.

Type depositories. The holotype (IAE036451) and one paratype (IAE036452) are deposited at the Herbarium of Institute of Applied Ecology, CAS, Shenyang. Four paratypes (NMS0001–4) are deposited at the Microbiological Lab, College of Life Sciences, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin.