The International Society of Tardigrade Hunters
  • Home
  • ISTH Blog
  • Find Tardigrades!
  • Contact
  • About ISTH
  • News!

Tardigrades at the Museum!

4/17/2015

0 Comments

 
Last night was a big success at the Museum of Life and Science's Cocktails and Cosmonauts event! Members of The International Society of Tardigrade Hunters made the trek from Chapel Hill to Durham to talk about and share some tardigrades with curious attendees.


Picture
The eutardigrade Hypsibius dujardini was a big hit at last nights event. Hypsibius is transparent so this specimen has been nonspecifically stained with crystal violet to increase contrast.
Picture
Tardigrade hunters in action.
Attendees had a chance to enjoy cocktails and food while chatting with tardigrade researchers on many topics including tardigrade stress tolerance, evolution, development, and ecology. Tardigrade hunting techniques were also demonstrated and folks got a look for and find their own tardigrades!
Picture
Dr. Frank Smith demonstrating how tardigrades can recover from prolonged oxygen deprivation.
Picture
Attendees on their first ever tardigrade hunt!
Picture
As always the Goldstein lab tardigrade photo-board was a big hit!
Picture
Check out all the tardigrades that showed up!
0 Comments

Tardigrade of the week! Milnesium!

4/10/2015

11 Comments

 
This week various shots of Apochela tardigrades from the genus Milnesium!
Milnesium tardigrade
Milnesium tardigradum
Milnesium Tardigrade head
Milnesium tardigradum
11 Comments

Eutardigrades!

4/3/2015

0 Comments

 
This week a couple of eutardigrades and a detailed short of some hind claws! Tardigrades found in moss collected on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Tardigrade of the week! Red-eyed Echiniscus

3/27/2015

0 Comments

 
Here is a beautiful heterotardigrade (genus Echiniscus). This specimen was collected from lichen in Chatham County, North Carolina. 

Echiniscus tardigrade
Ventrolateral view. Red eyespots are typical of this genus.
Echiniscus tardigrade
Dorsal view. Note the thick armored plates visible along the back of the specimen.
Note the red eyespots and dentate collar on the last pair of legs that are typical of some Echinicus species. 
Picture
An enlarged view of one of the hind legs. Arrow indicates the dentate collar typical of Echiniscus species.
Picture
Another view of the hind legs and dentate collard (arrow).
0 Comments

ISTH Founding Ceremony and Tardigrade Hunt

3/22/2015

1 Comment

 
At 4:05pm on March 20th, 2015  the International Society of Tardigrade Hunters was founded. To celebrate founding members participated in a collecting expedition on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus followed by a timed tardigrade hunting session.

Tardigrade hunters
Kiera (left), Sophie (right), and Jenny (back) look for water bears during ISTH's time tardigrade hunting competition.
Picture
One of the beautiful tardigrades Mark found.
Picture
A closeup view of Mark's prize tardigrade. Love the palps around this specimen's mouth.
Water bear hunters
Tardigrade hunters (left-right: Frank Smith, Mark Slabdonick, Jenny Heppert) gather moss and lichen for the tardigrade hunting competition.
There was some intense competition during the timed tardigrade hunt. The winners after 15 minutes of hunting were:
1st place: Dr. Mark Slabodnick with 3 tardigrades
2nd place: Jennifer Heppert with 2 tardigrades
3rd place: Sophie Tintori with 1 tardigrade.
Picture
Congratulations to the winner of ISTH's Founding Ceremony tardigrade hunting competition Dr. Mark Slabodnick. Mark found 3 tardigrades during the 15 minute times competition.
The collecting continued for another half hour following the competition. In total 27 wild tardigrades were found! ISTH will continue feature a new tardigrade every week on this blog. If you have any tardigrades or pictures of tardigrades you've found that you'd like us to feature do let us know.

Happy (water) bear hunting!
-Thomas Boothby
1 Comment
Forward>>

    Did you find a tardigrade? Not everyone has fancy microscopes so if you'd like us to take some nice pictures of your trophy please follow the instructions provided here.

    Categories

    All

    Archives

    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.