New Tardigrade Species Discovered in Kyrgyzstan

Cornechiniscus mystacinus has catfish-like ‘barbels’ and may be discovered within the Jalalabat area of Kyrgyzstan.

Cornechiniscus mystacinus. Picture credit score: Piotr Gąsiorek, doi: 10.1016/j.jcz.2022.06.007.

First found in 1773, tardigrades are a various group of microscopic invertebrates which are finest recognized for his or her means to outlive excessive circumstances.

Also called water bears or moss piglets, these creatures can dwell for as much as 60 years, and develop to a most measurement of 0.5 mm, finest seen underneath a microscope.

They’re able to survive for as much as 30 years with out meals or water, for a couple of minutes at temperatures as little as minus 272 levels Celsius (minus 457 levels Fahrenheit) or as excessive as 150 levels Celsius (302 levels Fahrenheit), and minus 20 levels Celsius (minus 4 levels Fahrenheit) for many years.

They stand up to pressures from nearly 0 atm in area as much as 1,200 atm on the backside of the Marianas Trench, and are additionally immune to radiation ranges as much as 5,000-6,200 Gy.

Cornechiniscus is an emblematic genus of large-bodied (over 0.3 mm in size) tardigrades with peculiar, horn-shaped appendages.

Members of this genus sometimes inhabit mosses and lichens with excessive quantities of dusty soils, and uncovered to frequent and lengthy intervals of drought.

They are often discovered on all continents aside from Australasia and Antarctica, with presumably Central Asia as the primary place of species diversification.

“Mountains and plateaus of Central Asia harbor a big variety of likely endemic tardigrade species, but exploration of the biodiversity of that area has began not way back,” mentioned examine writer Piotr Gąsiorek, a researcher within the Division of Invertebrate Evolution at Jagiellonian College.

Within the new examine, Gąsiorek examined new specimens of Cornechiniscus from Kyrgyzstan, Italy and Argentina.

He decided that one of many tardigrade represented a beforehand unknown species — the eleventh in its genus.

Named Cornechiniscus mystacinus, it happens in mountains surrounding Tashkömür within the Jalalabat area of northern Kyrgyzstan.

The species is yellow to darkish orange in colour, has an enormous and plump physique, massive, spherical, black crystalline eyes, lengthy peribuccal cirri (sensory filaments), and easy claws.

Grownup females are 0.5 mm lengthy on common; males are extra slender than females, and far smaller on common.

“A brand new Kyrgyz species is dioecious and necessitates modifying the genus prognosis to accommodate its cirri prolongation that contrasts with bulbous peribuccal cirri typical for Cornechiniscus,” Gąsiorek mentioned.

“Moreover, it enhances the speculation on the Central Asian origin of the genus.”

The invention of Cornechiniscus mystacinus is reported in a paper within the journal Zoologischer Anzeiger.

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Piotr Gąsiorek. Water bear with barbels of a catfish: A brand new Asian Cornechiniscus (Heterotardigrada: Echiniscidae) illuminates evolution of the genus. Zoologischer Anzeiger, printed on-line July 2, 2022; doi: 10.1016/j.jcz.2022.06.007