Georeferenced database and interactive online map of limnoterrestrial and freshwater Tardigrada from Central and South America

Abstract

Like other meiofaunal organisms, tardigrades suffer from a significant knowledge gap concerning many aspects of their biodiversity. The lack of an up-to-date digital collection with all species and details of limnoterrestrial and freshwater tardigrades in South and Central America is one of the most critical gaps to be filled. Therefore, the present work aims to develop a database containing all valid species of limnoterrestrial and freshwater tardigrades from South and Central America found until 2023 and provide open access to the results. Data for each species were obtained directly from the literature using Google Scholar and the website tardigrada.net. This compiled data resulted in the creation of a database with the species name, author and year of species description, genus, family, class, type country, type location, coordinates (longitude and latitude), if it is aquatic and/or limnoterrestrial, substrate where it was found, the country and location of collection, and manuscript containing the species identification. Furthermore, the coordinates of each occurrence were plotted on maps with political-administrative boundaries and Neotropical and Andean biogeographic regions. In addition, statistical analysis was performed related to the geographic distribution of the sampling effort. From the literature, 2157 records of valid non-marine Tardigrada species, endemic or not, were computed. From these records, 271 species of tardigrades have been identified in the two regions combined, with 223 species in South America and 129 species in Central America. We were able to show that there are still many biases in the sampling of tardigrades in the Neotropical and Andean regions and that further studies are needed on the biogeography of these meiofaunal organisms in these biogeographic regions. We expect this database to help better understand the richness and distribution patterns of limnoterrestrial and aquatic tardigrade species in Central and South America.