| Tardigrades - 'water bears' |
"Strange
is this little animal,
because of its
exceptional and strange morphology
and because it
closely resembles a bear en miniature.
That is the reason
why I decided to call it "little water bear".
Joh. August Ephraim Goeze
Pastor at St. Blasii, Quedlinburg, Germany (1773), author of the first water bear publication worldwide.
(source: http://www.tardigrades.com/)
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780 species
Images above from http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjun00/mmbearp.html
780 species
Characteristics shared by tardigrades, onychophorans, and arthropods (i.e. the Panarthropoda)
Characteristics shared by tardigrades and onychophorans
Other characteristics of tardigrades
But traditionally have been a very difficult group to place:
Tardigrade fossil from the
Middle Cambrian of Siberia (http://biosys-serv.biologie.uni-ulm.de/sektion/dieter/noncrustacean/tardi02.jpg)
Lecture Sources:
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