Hey folks, My interns (Sujith and Pranav) found these weird organisms while searching for Tardigrades. I’m sceptical about this being a Tardigrade. Can anyone in the community help us identify it ?? Follow me on Twitter and Researchgate to know more.
What is this??
Strange!!!
More of them!!!
Cheers,
Yashas
Fascinating! It’s possible it’s a larval stage of an insect – can you remind where you sampled this?
Beautiful video!
Cheers
Manu
It’s a tardigrade. Looks like a distinct species of the same. Do a careful analysis, it might be a new one.
Hey,
I’ve updated the post with more videos..
@Manu may be right… These were sampled from rocks near a waterfall in the Himalayas.
@laksiyer I thought so too.. but there aren’t significant morphology related to the Tardigrade… Check the other videos in the updated post.
Cheers
Yashas
Aha! The antenna gives it up – it’s possibly a spring tail. Image more of them to see – but tardigrades don’t have a antenna structure; right?
Still a very cool find – they buckle and strike the surface to jump very very high (compared to the small size).
Cheers
Manu
Hey Manu,
Great… Your suggestion helped me narrow down the answer… It’s indeed a springtail,
The specimen is ‘Hypogastrura nivicola’, commonly known as the ‘Snow flea’. They’re known to survive in cold temperatures and as you mentioned they jump in the snow..
No wonder they’re in the Himalayas 😉
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypogastrura_nivicola.
Cheerios
Yashas
The sample in the first video didn’t have an antenna showing clearly. further I thought I saw more than 6 legs. The other videos clarify, springtail is a good possibility
@laksiyer,
Yeah, it’s indeed a springtail… Interesting background they have…
You can check the info here,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypogastrura_nivicola
Cheers
Yashas
@Yashas. There is a nice post on springtails by Manu
https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16907