Ebay tardigrades (II) |
Echiniscus tardigrade
from the Canary Islands.
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After immersion in water we are better prepared for a closer look at our tardigrade. Let's start with a view of the dorsal armour plates: |
Echiniscus tardigrade
from the Canary Islands.
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As we have learnt already previously the number and distribution of appendices are crucial taxonomic criteria for the exact species determination of this Genus Echiniscus tardigrade. In the present case the tardigrade has appendices in all possible positions apart from the "B" position. Of course, when looking at exotic moss samples even the amateur has a secret hope that one day a really unique and obviously strinkingly new species might appear in his field of view. But when looking into the taxonomic literature you will find that this particular Echiniscus tardigrade from the Canary Islands looks very much like the species which we find in many other places as well. The head region of our not-so-much-exotic tardigrade appears as follows: |
Echiniscus tardigrade
from the Canary Islands.
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What else did we find in the moss? Look: |
Tardigrade egg; no idea what species. Diameter ca. 100 µm. |
And then we had this ethereal, water-clear wonder of living nature: |
Tardigrade from the Canary Islands. Body length ca. 300 µm. |
Furthermore we came across a rather unusual Milnesium tardigradum with an extraordinarily extended pharyngeal bulb. We have never seen something similar elsewhere. |
Exotic Milnesium tardigradum . Detail with the typical pear shaped pharyngeal bulb but with an unusual length. |
And, finally we found a few extremely big tardigrades
with fine, intensive reddish banding. But, as our image limit is
reached within this issue we will show them next time. See you in April! |
© Text, images and video clips by
Martin Mach (webmaster@baertierchen.de).
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