Kingdom Animalia Family Echiniscoididae Phylum Tardigrada Order Echiniscoidea | Class Heterotardigrada Genus Echiniscoides Rank Species | |
Similar Echiniscus testudo, Heterotardigrada, Arthrotardigrada, Milnesium tardigradum, Milnesium | ||
Echiniscoides sigismundi, first described by Schultze in 1865, is a marine tardigrade. It lives in seaweeds or plates of barnacles, or more generally in algal strongholds in inter-tidal areas.
Contents
Taxonomy
Echiniscoides sigismundi is the type species of Echiniscoides the oldest genus of tardigrades. The genus was monotypic from 1899 to 1976.
Distribution
By 1936, it was reported in most seas of Northern Europe, and in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.
The Light and Smith Manual describes its distribution as cosmopolitan, in the upper inter-tidal.
Osmobiosis
Echiniscoides sigismundi becomes turgid in freshwater, but can survive up to three days, resuming normal activity as osmotic differential returns to normal.
Infraspecies
References
Echiniscoides sigismundi Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA