Date of Award
7-1960
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Biological Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. T. S. Robinson
Second Advisor
Dr. Richard Brewer
Third Advisor
Dr. Leo C. Vander Beek
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
Introduction
Tardigrades, comprising fewer than 350 species, are microscopic animals which inhabit mosses, lichens, and algae. Tardigrades or "water bears" are distributed throughout the world. These invertebrates are found in fresh-water substrates (Cooke, 1959; Marcus, 1939, Moore, 1939; Pennak, 1940), marine substrates (Chitwood, 1951; Green, 1950; Jeannel et al., 1940; Marcus, 1927, 1946; Pennak, 1953:240; Wieser, 1959) and terrestrial habitats (Cuenot, 1929; Marcus, 1960; Rodriguez-Roda, 1948; Pennak, 1953:240). The "water bears" have also been found in the psammolittoral zone where they live between grains of sand, (Pennak, 1940) and there feed on algal cells (Marcus, 1929). Tardigrades puncture the cell well of mosses and other cryptogams and suck out the cell contents (Higgins, 1959). Only one species, Milnesium tardigradum Doyere, is considered to be carnivorous (Pennak, 1953:243). The first tardigrades were described as the "little bears of water" by J. Goeze in 1773 (Marcus, 1960). The name "tardigrades" was applied in L. Doyere's fundamental memoirs on the class (Marcus, 1960).
Recommended Citation
Sawtell, James J., "Notes on the Tardigrades of Southwestern Michigan" (1960). Masters Theses. 4487.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/4487