#tardigrada

[bowelfly]

this month's bugs. the outrageous one at the top right is real, Austrospirachtha carrijoi, a rove beetle that parasitizes termite nests

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

.... the humble and extremeophile tardigrade? Mmmm... Perchance?

Sure!

Have you seen a tardigrade (Phylum: Tardigrada)?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I'm not sure

Voting ended onSep 24, 2025

The first photo is thanks to Tsujimoto et al. 2016, taken by Megumu Tsujimoto/NIPR. The second photo is thanks to Motic Microscopes (If you want to see cute videos of these guys just walking around and eating, I recommend looking for the Motic Microscopes videos of them).

[every-day-creechur]

Oreella chugachii

A tardigrade found in Alaska.

image by Calloway, Miller, Johansson & Whiting

[animalshowdown]

Phylum Round 2

🦠 TARDIGRADA vs. CTENOPHORA 🪼

Tardigrada

Ctenophora

Voting ended onFeb 13, 2024

Tardigrada: Water Bears or Moss Piglets. These micro-animals have been found on every continent, including Antarctica. They are well-known for their ability to survive extreme conditions such as dangerous radiation, extreme heat/cold, or lack of food and water. Members of Tardigrada have even been studied on space missions, and survived the vacuum of space. They can endure these conditions by entering a "tun" state, where they lose almost all of their water and slow all their life systems to a near-stop. Tardigrades live on moist mosses and lichens, but can survive when their habitat dries out, and reawaken when water returns.

Ctenophora: Comb Jellies. The largest animal phylum to swim using hair-like cilia. Their cilia are arranged in rows, called combs or ctenes, down the length of their body. The cilia move in a wave-like pattern that generates colorful reflecting light shows. Almost all Ctenophores are predators of small plankton as they drift in the ocean. They inhabit a variety of marine habitats from the coastal intertidal to the open ocean.

[bestanimal]

Round 1 - Phylum Tardigrada

(Source - 1, 2, 3, 4)

The phylum Tardigrada comprises eight-legged, segmented, microscopic animals commonly known as Water Bears or Moss Piglets.

Tardigrades have been found in many different ecosystems, from mountaintops to the deep sea to the Antarctic. They are known for their extreme resilience, being able to survive extreme temperatures and pressures, air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, starvation, and even exposure to outer space. However, they prefer to just live in mosses, lichens, and sediments, munching away on plant cells, algae, bacteria, or small invertebrates (including smaller tardigrade species; that’s not cannibalism btw, plenty of chordates eat other chordate species!) They are not considered extremophiles though, as they are not adapted to exploit extreme environments, only to endure them. They do this by going dormant in harsh environments, for up to 30 years, only to rehydrate and continue living when conditions are safer!

Tardigrades are usually about 0.5 mm long when fully grown, with the largest species reaching up to 1.5 mm. They are short and plump, with barrel-shaped bodies and eight legs, each ending in claws or suction disks. Their backwards-facing hind legs allow them to move in reverse when needed. Like arthropods, they have a cuticle exoskeleton which needs to be molted as the animal grows. They feed using a pair of stylets within their tubular mouth, which they use to pierce their food and suck out the contents. These stylets are lost when the tardigrade molts, so they must secrete a new pair each molt. Some species only defecate when they molt, leaving behind both feces and a shed exoskeleton. They have a large brain for their size, and sense the world via sensory bristles, and some species also have pigment-cup eyes. There are both males and females, with females being larger and more common. Males will gather around a female to court her. Most species have external fertilization, with eggs being laid within a shed cuticle by the female and then fertilized by the male. They can live from several months up to two years, depending on species.

There are two main groups of tardigrades, the Eutardigrades which are the more chubby, suction-cup-fingered ones and the Heterotardigrades, which are the armoured, clawed ones. The oldest known modern tardigrades have been found in Cretaceous amber, but their phylum likely emerged in the Cambrian.

How do you feel about this phylum?

One or more of my favorite animals is in this phylum

I love one or more of these animals

I like one or more of these animals

I am neutral about all of these animals

I dislike all of these animals

I hate all of these animals

Voting ended onSep 21, 2024

Propaganda under the cut:

I mean… they’re freakin tardigrades. They’re cute. They look like mini Catbusses. This is probably the only microscopic animal for which this many plush toys exist.

“Tardigrada” means “slow steppers”

One species, Echiniscoides wyethi, lives on barnacles.

Tardigrades are relatively common and easy to see with a microscope, making them good subjects for budding microbiologists to study. They can also be kept as pets on a piece of moss, regularly checked via microscope.

They don’t actually like all the extreme environment stuff. Stop putting them in space. Let them chill.

[taxonomytournament]

Taxonomy Tournament: Invertibrates

Hexacorallia. This class is made up of aquatic animals with 6-fold symmetry. It includes stony corals and sea anemones

Tardigrada. This phylum is made up of tardigrades, also known as water bears, eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They're among the most resilient animals, able to survive high and low extremes in temperature and pressure.

Which clade of animals is better?

Hexacorallia

Tardigrada

Show results

Voting ended onMay 6, 2024

[sonic-elements]

Sonic Elements Species Safari: Panarthropoda Pt 1

Part 1 Of The Panarthropoda Section is two families. Onychophora (The Velvet Worms) & Tardigrada (The Water Bears) two unique and Tough Animals in their own right .

Members include Velcro The Velvet Worm & Micro The Water Bear

[musicmakesyousmart]