Tardigrade
Phylum of microscopic animals
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Why this is trending
Interest in “Tardigrade” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-07-20.
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Key Takeaways
- Tardigrades ( ), also known as water bears or moss piglets , are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals.
- In 1776, the Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani named them Tardigrada , which means "slow walkers".
- They are among the most resilient animals known, with individual species able to survive severe conditions — such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation — that would quickly kill most other forms of life.
- There are about 1,500 known species in the phylum Tardigrada, a part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa.
- They lack several of the Hox genes found in arthropods, and the middle region of the body corresponding to an arthropod's thorax and abdomen.
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Source summary
WikipediaTardigrades ( ), also known 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 'little water bear'. In 1776, the Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani named them Tardigrada, which means "slow walkers".
Tardigrades live in diverse regions of Earth's biosphere: mountaintops, the deep sea, tropical rainforests, and the Antarctic. They are among the most resilient animals known, with individual species able to survive severe conditions — such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation — that would quickly kill most other forms of life. They have survived exposure to outer space.
There are about 1,500 known species in the phylum Tardigrada, a part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa. The earliest known fossil is from the Cambrian, some 500 million years ago. They lack several of the Hox genes found in arthropods, and the middle region of the body corresponding to an arthropod's thorax and abdomen. Instead, most of their body is homologous to an arthropod's head.
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