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Tardigrade Taxa

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Water Bears: The Biology of Tardigrades

Part of the book series: Zoological Monographs ((ZM,volume 2))

Abstract

The list of tardigrade taxa up to a sub-generic level, with the type species of each genus and the numbers of lower taxa in each taxon (known in the end of June 2018) is here presented together with the main environments in which taxa were found.

Each listed taxon is characterized by characters common to all lower taxa using predominantly most recent taxa definitions. Taxa definitions were eventually adjusted using original descriptions.

This review of tardigrade taxa underlines as taxonomy and systematics of the phylum are continuously updated by researchers and new species are constantly discovered. Currently, there are 1265 species (2 of them fossil) of Tardigrada belonging to 129 genera and 28 families including one fossil.

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Acknowledgement

We thank anonymous reviewer for the valuable suggestions which significantly helped us to improve the chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Peter Degma

  2. Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Roberto Guidetti

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  1. Peter Degma
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  1. Institute of Biological Materials and Biomolecular Systems, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

    Ralph O. Schill

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Degma, P., Guidetti, R. (2018). Tardigrade Taxa. In: Schill, R. (eds) Water Bears: The Biology of Tardigrades. Zoological Monographs, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95702-9_15

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