<i>Paramacrobiotus lachowskae</i>, a new species of Tardigrada from Colombia (Eutardigrada: Parachela: Macrobiotidae)

In this article we describe a new <i>Paramacrobiotus</i> species of the <i>areolatus</i> group by means of integrative taxonomy. Together with the detailed morphological and morphometric data (obtained from light and scanning electron microscopy) we also provide DNA sequences of four universal molecular markers used in tardigrade taxonomy (three nDNA fragments: 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, ITS-2, and one mtDNA fragment: COI). The animals of <i>Paramacrobiotus lachowskae</i> sp. nov. are similar to several species of the <i>areolatus</i> complex and the eggshell ornamentation is similar to that of two species of the <i>richtersi</i> group. Therefore, the new species can be easily distinguished from the <i>areolatus</i> group species by egg morphology (dome-like, wrinkled processes with long flexible spines/filaments covered by fine short hairs) and from species of the <i>richtersi</i> complex by the absence of the microplacoid. <i>Paramacrobiotus lachowskae</i> sp. nov. is the 43rd species reported from Colombia and fifth <i>Paramacrobiotus</i> species from this South American country. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FEDC11D3-DCCF-4699-A704-CE6DEA1CDED4