A new leaf litter dwelling Adropion species (Tardigrada; Eutardigrada; Itaquasconinae) from the Northern Apennines (Italy)

V ecchi M. 2024. A new leaf litter dwelling Adropion species (Tardigrada; Eutardigrada; Itaquasconinae) from the Northern Apennines (Italy). Folia Biologica (Kraków) 72: 109-117. Tardigrades are known to inhabit a variety of substrates, including leaf litter. In this article, I describe a new tardigrade species, Adropion fagineum n. sp. that inhabits beech leaf litter in the Italian Northern Apennines. Due to having long and thin macroplacoids, the new species belongs to the species of the belgicae-scoticum complex; however, it can be differentiated from other species by the number of macroplacoids (two in the new species), the presence of cuticular bars in the legs (present in the new species) and by the relative length of the flexible pharyngeal tube compared to the rigid buccal tube.