Tardigrades, also popularly called water bears or moss pigs, are almost microscopic aquatic animals with plump, segmented bodies and flattened heads. They have eight legs, each with four or eight claws or fingers on the tip, and their greatest value is that they are almost indestructible, so much so that they can even survive in outer space.
They were first discovered in 1773. They are a diverse group of microscopic invertebrates known for their ability to survive in extreme conditions.
Tardigrades can live up to 60 years and grow to a maximum size of 0.5mm, which are best seen under a microscope. They can survive up to 30 years without food or water, for a few minutes at temperatures as low as -272 degrees Celsius or temperatures as high as 150 degrees Celsius, and -20 degrees Celsius for decades.
Among its other superpowers, it also stands out that they withstand pressures from practically 0 atmospheres in space to 1,200 atm at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and are also resistant to radiation levels of up to 5,000-6,200 Gy.
This specimen represents an emblematic genus of large-bodied tardigrades (greater than 0.3 mm in length) with peculiar horn-like appendages. They can be found on every continent except Australasia and Antarctica, with Central Asia presumably the main place of species diversification.
“The mountains and plateaus of Central Asia are home to a significant number of probably endemic tardigrade species, but exploration of the biodiversity of that region started not long ago,” said Piotr Gąsiorek, a researcher at the Department of Invertebrate Evolution at Jagiellonian University and co-author of the work published in the journal Zoologischer Anzeiger.
Examining new Cornechiniscus specimens from Kyrgyzstan, Italy, and Argentina, scientists determined that one of the tardigrades represented a previously unknown species —the eleventh in its genus . Called Cornechiniscus mystacinus, it is found in the mountains surrounding Tashkömür in the Jalalabat region of northern Kyrgyzstan.
The species is yellow to dark orange in color, has a massive, plump body, large, round, black, crystalline eyes, long perioral cirri (sensory filaments), and soft claws.
“A new Kyrgyz species is dioecious and requires modification of the genus diagnosis to accommodate its prolongation of cirri that contrasts with the bulbous perioral cirri typical of Cornechiniscus . In addition, it improves the hypothesis about the origin of the genus in Central Asia,” the authors clarify.
Referencia: Piotr Gąsiorek. Water bear with barbels of a catfish: A new Asian Cornechiniscus (Heterotardigrada: Echiniscidae) illuminates evolution of the genus. Zoologischer Anzeiger, published online July 2, 2022; doi: 10.1016/j.jcz.2022.06.007
