Brussels,  28-­‐29-­‐30   September

TARDIGRADAReinhardt  Kristensen (University of  Copenhagen,  Zoological Museum,  Denmark)

Roberto  Guidetti (University of  Modena and  Reggio Emilia,  Italy)

Head,  4  metameric segments,  each one with a  pair of legs with digits and  claws at   the  extremitiesPiercing-­‐sucking feeding apparatus.

Brussels,  28-­‐29-­‐30   September

Water  bears

Described from  all  seas,  marine  tardigrades  are  part  of  the  meiobenthos and  occur  in  intertidal  and  subtidal  areas  down  to  the  abyss  (4690  m).

Interstitial,  epibenthic,  or  associated  to  algae  and  other invertebrates(e.g.  barnacles,  sea cucumber)Cryptobiosis  (anhydrobiosis,  cryobiosis,  osmobiosis)  also in  2  marine  species in  intertidal  zone  (on  barnacles or  on  lichen Lichina).

No  taxonomic key for  marine  species (one is in  preparation).Taxonomic key for  limno-­‐terrestrial genera:  Pilato  &  Binda.  2010.  Zootaxa2404:  1–54.

Small  animals (100-­‐1000  µm)Marine,  brackish,  freshwater,  &  terrestrial habitats,  

all  over  the  world  for  Artic to  Antarctic.

Marine  and  freshwater environments are  the  least  studied.

Brussels,  28-­‐29-­‐30   September

Taxonomic information

197  marine  tardigrade  species  (16%)  out  of  1220  tardigrade  species.Arthrotardigrada (marine)  greatest morphological diversity.

8  families,  43  genera,  185  species

40  species,  8  genera,  distributed   in  4  families   in  EutardigradaFor review:  Nelson,  Guidetti,   Rebecchi.   2015.  Phylum  Tardigrada.  Ecology  and  General   Biology:  Thorpand  Covich’s Freshwater   Invertebrates.  Academic Press  (Elsevier   Inc.)

Few  exclusively/obligate  freshwater  species:  1  species,  1  genera,  1  family   in  Heterotardograda

Phylogenetic relationships within the  Panarthropoda unresolved

TardigradaArthopodaOnychophoraTardigradaArthopodaOnychophoraHeterotardigrada

Eutardigrada

Arthrotardigrada (all  marine)Echiniscoidea (terrestrial,  2  genera  marine)

Apochela  (limno-­‐terrestrial)Parachela (limno-­‐terrestrial,  1  genera  secondarily marine)

Phylogeny within Tardigrada:   Heterotardigrada (Jorgensen,  A.,  Kristensen,  R.M.,  2004.Mol.  Phyl.  Evol.  32,  666–670.)Eutardigrada   (Bertolani  et  al.  2014.  Mol.  Phyl.  Evol.  76,  110–126)

Brussels,  28-­‐29-­‐30   September

ChecklistOnline  updated check   list of  Tardigrada species http://www.tardigrada.modena.unimo.it/

Guidetti   &  Bertolani.  2005.  Zootaxa.  

Status in  WoRMS:  all  marine  species are  listed,  but  most of  them lack reference data  and  data  on  their distribution.

The Zoogeography of Marine TardigradaKaczmarek et  al.  2015  Zootaxa (in  press)

Brussels,  28-­‐29-­‐30   September

Expectations  for  the  workshopI’m a  new  Editor  of  WoRMS

Better understand how  to  used the  WoRMS platformKnow  the  other Editors  and  exchange  experiences