''Testechiniscus'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
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 ...
s in the family
Echiniscidae
The Echiniscidae are a family of tardigrades, a phylum of water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animals. It is one of the four families in the order Echiniscoidea. .
The genus was named and described by
Reinhardt Kristensen
Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen (born 1948) is a Danish invertebrate biologist, noted for the discovery of three new phyla of microscopic animals: the Loricifera in 1983, the Cycliophora in 1995, and the Micrognathozoa in 2000. He is also consider ...
in 1987.
Species
The genus includes four species:
* ''
Testechiniscus laterculus''
(Schuster, Grigarick & Toftner, 1980)
* ''
Testechiniscus macronyx''
(Richters, 1907)
* ''
Testechiniscus meridionalis''
(Murray, 1906)
* ''
Testechiniscus spitsbergensis''
(Scourfield, 1897)
References
Further reading
* Kristensen, 1987 : ''Generic revision of the Echiniscidae (Heterotardigrada), with a discussion of the origin of the family.'' Collana U.Z.I. Selected Symposia and Monographs, no. 1, p. 261-335.
Nomenclator Zoologicus info
Echiniscidae
Tardigrade genera
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