About Paramacrobiotus metropolitanus

Paramacrobiotus is a genus Eutardigrade. Tardigrades, known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them Kleiner Wasserbär. In 1777, the Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani named them Tardigrada, which means "slow steppers".

Tardigrades, or water bears, are particularly attractive animal models to study the different kinds of dormancy owing to their ability to enter anhydrobiosis and cryobiosis [1], and can tolerate harsh conditions such as extreme temperature and pressure (high and low), ionizing and ultraviolet (UV) radiations, osmotic stress, and even space vacuum at low Earth orbit. Members of the genus Paramacrobiotus have been shown to exhibit the natural occurring autofluorescence under UV light with potential to confer tolerance to lethal UV radiation [2].

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Taxonomy ID 2943436

(Text from Wikipedia.)

More information General information about this species can be found in Wikipedia

Taxonomy ID 2943436

Data source The University of Tokyo

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