Tardigrades are microscopic animals found worldwide in aquatic as well as terrestrial
ecosystems. They belong to the invertebrate superclade Ecdysozoa, as do the two major …

Water is critical for the survival of most cells and organisms. Remarkably, a small number of
multicellular animals are able to survive nearly complete drying. The phenomenon of …

Tardigrades are ubiquitous meiofauna that are especially renowned for their exceptional
extremotolerance to various adverse environments, including pressure, temperature, and …

In this review we analyze the dormancy strategies of metazoans inhabiting “hostile to life”
habitats, which have a strong impact on their ecology and in particular on the traits of their …

Twenty years after its proposal, the monophyly of molting protostomes—Ecdysozoa—is a
well-corroborated hypothesis, but the interrelationships of its major subclades are more …

Tardigrades are able to tolerate almost complete dehydration by reversibly switching to an
ametabolic state. This ability is called anhydrobiosis. In the anhydrobiotic state, tardigrades …

The current state of knowledge about anhydrobiosis in tardigrades is presented. In response
to adverse environmental conditions tardigrades arrest their metabolic activity and after …

Background Tardigrades are renowned for their ability to enter cryptobiosis (latent life) and
endure extreme stress, including desiccation and freezing. Increased focus is on revealing …

Tardigrades represent a phylum of very small aquatic animals in which many species have
evolved adaptations to survive under extreme environmental conditions, such as desiccation …

Intra-and interspecific variability, being at the very core of alpha taxonomy, has been a long-
standing topic of debate among tardigrade taxonomists. Early studies tended to assume that …