Tardigrada in Svalbard lichens: diversity, densities and habitat heterogeneity

Zawierucha, Krzysztof; Węgrzyn, Michał; Ostrowska, Marta; Wietrzyk, Paulina

doi:10.1007/s00300-016-2063-2

Cited by 18 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Epiphytes in tree canopies seem to support a similar tardigrade species richness as epiphytes found at ground level, and our observation of higher microfaunal diversity in bryophytes than lichen is supported by Bartels & Nelson (2007) , Guil et al (2009) , Zawierucha et al (2016) and Zawierucha et al (2017) . An understanding of regional tardigrade community structure in North America is beginning to emerge ( Meyer, 2013 ; Kaczmarek, Michalczyk & McInnes, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Epiphyte type and sampling height impact mesofauna communities in Douglas-fir trees

Young

Miller

Villella

et al. 2018

PeerJ

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Branches and boles of trees in wet forests are often carpeted with lichens and bryophytes capable of providing periodically saturated habitat suitable for microfauna, animals that include tardigrades, rotifers, nematodes, mites, and springtails. Although resident microfauna likely exhibit habitat preferences structured by fine-scale environmental factors, previous studies rarely report associations between microfaunal communities and habitat type (e.g., communities that develop in lichens vs. bryophytes). Microfaunal communities were examined across three types of epiphyte and three sampling heights to capture gradients of microenvironment. Tardigrades, rotifers, and nematodes were significantly more abundant in bryophytes than fruticose lichen or foliose lichen. Eight tardigrade species and four tardigrade taxa were found, representing two classes, three orders, six families, and eight genera. Tardigrade community composition was significantly different between bryophytes, foliose lichen, fruticose lichen, and sampling heights. We show that microenvironmental factors including epiphyte type and sampling height shape microfaunal communities and may mirror the environmental preferences of their epiphyte hosts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Epiphyte type and sampling height impact mesofauna communities in Douglas-fir trees

Young

Miller

Villella

et al. 2018

PeerJ

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“…The species was originally described from the Svalbard Archipelago (specifically from Smeerenburg on Spitsbergen), where it seems to be a common element of the tardigrade fauna, e.g. [34][35][36][37][38] . Nonetheless, the diagnosis of this species has been questioned for many years, specifically concerning its possible synonymy with Macrobiotus echinogenitus , also originally described from the Svalbard Archipelago 13,17,39 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resolving the systematics of Richtersiidae by multilocus phylogeny and an integrative redescription of the nominal species for the genus Crenubiotus (Tardigrada)

Stec

Vecchi

Maciejowski

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The family Richtersiidae, although established recently with the use of phylogenetic methods, was considered potentially paraphyletic at the time of its erection. Until now, the family comprised four genera, Richtersius, Diaforobiotus, Adorybiotus and a newly erected genus Crenubiotus. However, the genetic characterisation for the latter two genera was very limited or absent. To address concerns about the phylogenetic affinity of these two genera, we present a multilocus phylogeny of the families Richtersiidae and Murrayidae based on four molecular markers (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, ITS-2 and COI). Our results show a distinct evolutionary lineage composed of Adorybiotus and Crenubiotus, which is sister to Murrayidae. In order to accommodate the phylogenetic and morphological distinctiveness of this lineage, we erect a new family, Adorybiotidae fam. nov. The new taxon differs morphologically from other families in the superfamily Macrobiotoidea by a unique combination of traits: (1) the presence of tubercles/cushions with aggregations of microgranules on their surfaces present on all legs and on the dorso-caudal cuticle, (2) a system of internal septa in claws, and (3) buccal apparatus morphology. Moreover, in order to stabilise the taxonomy and nomenclature in the genus Crenubiotus, we redescribe its type species, Crenubiotus crenulatus, by means of integrative taxonomy and designate a new neotype based on a population from the original terra typica.

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“…Additional material: I) Svalbard, Spitsbergen, Hornsund, Revdalen : 1) 77°01'41''N; 15°22'21''E, 67 m asl, moss on soil, northern part of the Revdalen, near the Revvatnet and the Revelva (1 egg); 2) 77°01'39''N; 15°22'47''E, 76 m asl, moss on rock, northern part of the Revdalen, near the Revvatnet and the Revelva (5 animals and 2e); 3) 77°01'09''N; 15°24'34''E, 50 m asl, moss on soil, northern part of the Revdalen, near the Revvatnet (southern edge) and the Revelva (1a and 4e); 4) (77°01'09''N; 15°24'34''E), 50 m asl, moss and lichen on soil, northern part of the Revdalen, near the Revvatnet (southern edge) and the Revelva (4a and 5e) [ 65 ]; II) Svalbard, Spitsbergen, Hornsund, Rotjesfjellet: 1) 77°00'16''N; 15°24'02''E, 50 m asl, moss on soil, south-east slope (2e); 2) 77°00'19''N; 15°23'55''E, 100 m asl, moss on soil, south-east slope (1a and 5e); 3) 77°00'31''N; 15°23'21''E, 301 m asl, moss on soil, south-east slope (2a and 1e) [ 65 ]; III) Svalbard, Spitsbergen, Hornsund, Ariekammen: 1) 77°01'10''N; 15°31'16''E, 524 m asl, moss on rock (20a and 3e); 2) 77°00'31''N; 15°31'43''E, 50 m asl, moss on rock (7a and 12e); 2) 77°00'18''N; 15°32'01''E, 14 m asl, moss on rock (6a and 1e) [ 66 ]; 3) 77°00'48''N; 15°33'05''E, 11 m asl, moss on rock (48a and 70e); 4) 77°00'29''N; 15°33'09''E, 1 m asl, moss on rock (22a and 3e); 5) 77°00'40''N; 15°32'88''E, 7 m asl, moss on soil (1e) 6) 77°00'58''N; 15°32'00''E, 28 m asl, moss on soil (1a and 1e); 7) 77°00'50''N; 15°33'24''E, 8 m asl, lichen on stone (6a and 2e) 8) 77°00'50''N; 15°33'24''E, 8 m asl, moss and lichen on stone (6a and 5e), 9) 77°00'79''N; 15°32'66''E, 72 m asl, moss and lichen on stone (2a and 1e), 10) 77°00'79''N 15°32'66''E, 72 m asl, moss on stone (1a and 1e) [ 67 ]; IV) Svalbard, Phippsøya: 80°41.211’N; 20°50.606’E, 47 m asl, moss on rock (6a and 15e) [ 72 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrative redescription of the nominal taxon for the Mesobiotus harmsworthi group (Tardigrada: Macrobiotidae) leads to descriptions of two new Mesobiotus species from Arctic

et al. 2018

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The Mesobiotus harmsworthi group has a global distribution, with localities in polar, temperate and tropical zones. Since the first species of the harmsworthi group was described in the beginning of the 20th century, tens of new species within the group were found and named. However, the diagnosis of the nominal Mesobiotus harmsworthi is insufficient and enigmatic, thus it can be is a serious obstacle in solving the taxonomy of this group. Here, we integratively redescribe the nominal species for the genus Mesobiotus, i.e., Mesobiotus harmsworthi and clarify taxonomic statuses of the two subspecies: M. harmsworthi harmsworthi and M. harmsworthi obscurus that have been recognised as distinct taxa for more than three decades. Traditionally, egg chorion in M. harmsworthi was considered almost smooth and without any traces of areolation, however here we report many misunderstandings that accumulated across decades and we show that, in fact, the chorion in this species exhibits a partially developed areolation. We present an integrative (morphological, morphometric and molecular) diagnosis of the nominal taxon and we confirm that it differs from other species of the harmsworthi group by morphological characters of both animals and eggs. Additionally, we describe two new species of the genus Mesobiotus: M. skorackii sp. nov. from the Kyrgyz Republic (using classical morphological description) and M. occultatus sp. nov. from Svalbard Archipelago (by means of integrative taxonomy). Finally, we also provide the first genetic phylogeny of the genus Mesobiotus based on COI sequences which, together with molecular species delimitation, independently confirms the validity of the analysed taxa.

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Tardigrada in Svalbard lichens: diversity, densities and habitat heterogeneity

Cited by 18 publications

References 49 publications

Epiphyte type and sampling height impact mesofauna communities in Douglas-fir trees

Epiphyte type and sampling height impact mesofauna communities in Douglas-fir trees

Resolving the systematics of Richtersiidae by multilocus phylogeny and an integrative redescription of the nominal species for the genus Crenubiotus (Tardigrada)

An integrative redescription of the nominal taxon for the Mesobiotus harmsworthi group (Tardigrada: Macrobiotidae) leads to descriptions of two new Mesobiotus species from Arctic

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