''Diphascon faialense'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

tardigrade 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 . In 1776, th ...

in the genus '' Diphascon'' of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Hypsibiidae The Hypsibiidae are a family of water bears or moss piglets, tardigrades in the class Eutardigrada. Subfamilies and genera * Subfamily Diphasconinae ** '' Diphascon'' ** '' Hebesuncus'' ** '' Paradiphascon'' * Subfamily Hypsibiinae ** ''Acutu ...

and the subfamily Diphasconinae. The species is endemic to the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

.Fontoura & Pilato, 2007:
''Diphascon'' (''Diphascon'') ''faialense'' sp. nov. a new species of Tardigrada (Eutardigrada, Hypsibiidae) from the Azores and a key to the species of the ''D. pingue'' group
. ''Zootaxa'', no 1589, p. 47-55. The species was first described and named by

Paulo Fontoura Paulo is a Portuguese masculine given name equivalent to the English name Paul. Notable people with the name include: * Paulo Jr., Brazilian bassist * Paulo Jr. (footballer), Brazilian footballer * Paulo Alho (born 1980), Portuguese race car ...

and

Giovanni Pilato Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

in 2007. The specific name refers to

Faial Island Faial Island (), also known as Fayal Island, is a Portugal, Portuguese island of the Central Group or ''Grupo Central'' of the Azores, in the Atlantic Ocean. The Capelinhos volcano is the westernmost point of the island and is considered the we ...

, on which it was found.

References

Parachela (tardigrade) Fauna of the Azores Faial Island Animals described in 2007 Taxa named by Giovanni Pilato {{tardigrade-stub