English: Waterbears; Moss piglets.
Members: 500 to more than 1000 species.
Region: worldwide, from the high Himalayas above 6,000 m, to the deep sea, below 4,000 m; from the polar regions to the equator.
Habitat: polyextremophiles; extremophile is an organism that can thrive in a physically or geochemically extreme condition, temperatures from just above absolute zero to above the boiling point of water, pressures about 6 times stronger than pressures found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose for a person, and the vacuum of outer space; they can go without food or water for more than 10 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water; prevalent in moss and lichen and feed on plant cells, algae, and small invertebrates; mostly on lichens and mosses; dunes, beaches, soil; marine or freshwater sediments, where they may occur quite frequently, up to 25000 animals per litre.
ZoologyAnimals; micro to small, 0.1 to 1.5 mm; water-dwelling; segmented; with eight legs.
Clades:
Ecdysozoa.
Name: means slow walker.
Motion: slow, walk like a bear.
ClassesHeterotardigrada
Mesotardigrada
Eutardigrada