Tardigrades of Alaska: distribution patterns, diversity and species richness

Figures & data

Table 1 Tardigrade collections in Alaska, 2009, arranged from north to south latitudes.

Cluster code	Site code^a	Site	Latitude	Longitude	Elevation (m)	No. of samples	No. of positive samples	No. of specimens	No. of species
Toolik Lake	T	Roadside Creek	69.05930	148.49978	312.1	3	1	6	1
Toolik Lake	S	Sagway River	68.46167	148.50859	472.4	9	4	75	17
Toolik Lake	R	Slope Mountain	68.42592	149.02228	674.2	3	2	24	4
Toolik Lake	Q	Kupa River	68.38813	149.24832	755.9	5	1	1	1
Toolik Lake	P	Toolik field station	68.37695	149.35592	722.1	23	9	181	26
Toolik Lake	O	Brooks Range	68.14498	149.25371	906.8	14	3	25	9
Arctic Circle	N	Arctic Circle	66.33334	150.48644	361.8	1	1	3	1
Arctic Circle	M	Finger Mountain	66.21462	150.27686	650.7	12	7	92	18
Bonanza Creek	L	Alyeska Pipeline	64.92909	147.62944	238.7	3	1	6	1
Bonanza Creek	K	Winner Creek	64.51492	147.49820	205.7	13	6	11	3
Bonanza Creek	J	Bonanza Creek	64.42325	148.19439	160.6	31	22	176	20
Kenai Peninsula	I	Crows Creek	61.02707	149.07223	802.5	85	66	584	38
Kenai Peninsula	H	Girdwood Outlook	60.92840	149.34700	11.3	2	1	13	1
Kenai Peninsula	G	Granite Mine	60.57183	148.13301	183.2	5	3	89	5
Kenai Peninsula	F	Kenai Lake	60.49012	149.74716	247.2	1	1	5	1
Kenai Peninsula	E	Moose Pass	60.47070	149.40123	981.5	5	4	29	7
Kenai Peninsula	D	Seward Highway	60.39510	149.29020	375.2	9	3	29	5
Kenai Peninsula	C	Swetman Mine	60.36646	149.34685	165.5	3	1	25	2
Kenai Peninsula	B	Lost Lake	60.26337	149.42240	594.4	3	2	2	2
Kenai Peninsula	A	Brown Bear Prospect	60.20323	149.21058	177.7	5	4	87	13
Total						235	142	1463

^aSee Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 Tardigrade collections: (a) prior collections by Meininger & Spratt (1988; V), Calloway et al. (2011; W), Mathews (1938; X), Schuster & Grigarick (1965; Y) and Dastych (1982; Z), and (b) collections in this study (letters correspond to site codes in Table 1).

Table 2 Tardigrades of Alaska

Family	Genus	Species	1938^a	1965^a	1982^a	1988^a	1998^a	2010^a	2012^a	Site codes (north to south)^b
Oreellidae
Oreella
		O. chugachii Calloway, Miller, Johansson & Whiting, 2012							X	K
Echiniscidae
Echiniscus
		E. arctomys Ehrenberg, 1853							X	C, G, I, M, P
		E. blumi blumi Richters, 1903							X	M
		E. columinis Murray, 1911^d							X	G, I, K
		E. merokensis merokensis Richters. 1904		X				X	A
		E. oihonnae Richters, 1903							X	J
		E. postojnensis Mihelcic, 1967^c							X	I
		E. quadrispinosus quadrispinosus Richters, 1902							X	J, M
		E. robertsi Schuster & Grigarick, 1965	X
		E. testudo Doyère, 1840							X	I
		E. trisetosus Cuénot, 1932							X	R
		Echiniscus sp. A							X	J
		Echiniscus sp. B							X	A, E, G, I, J, P, R, S
Hypechiniscus
		H gladiator gladiator (Murray, 1905)		X	X				X	I, O
Pseudechiniscus
		P. facettalis Petersen, 1951							X	P
		P. suillus Ehrenberg, 1853	X	X					X	I
		P. victor Ehrenberg, 1853							X	S
		Pseudechiniscus sp.							X	I, P
Milnesiidae
Milnesium
		M. eurystomum Maucci, 1991^e							X	I, M, P
		Milnesium sp.			X				X	I, J, M, O, P, S
		Milnesium n. sp.							X	J, O, S
Eohypsibiidae
Bertolanius (Amphibolus)
		Bertolanius sp.				X
Calohypsibiidae
Calohypsibius
		C. ornatus Richters, 1900		X					X	I, M
Hypsibiidae
Diphascon (Diphascon)
		D. alpinum Murray, 1906		X	X				X	J
		D. bullatum Murray, 1905			X
		D. iltisi Schuster & Grigarick, 1965			X				X	P
		D. nodulosum Ramazzotti, 1957							X	I
		D. oculatumoculatum Murray, 1906							X	I, J, K, M, P
		D. oculatumalpinum Mihelcic, 1964							X	I
		D. pingue pingue Marcus, 1936				X			X	I, J, P
		D. ramazzottii Robotii, 1970^e							X	O
		D. rugosum Bartoš, 1935			X
		D. stappersi Richters, 1911							X	P
		Diphascon sp.							X	A, E, G, H, I, J, M, P
Diphascon (Adropion)
		D. arduifrons Thulin, 1928							X	I, P
		D. belgicae Richters, 1911							X	I, P
		D. prosirostre Thulin, 1928			X	X			X	A
		D. scoticum Murray, 1905			X	X			X	I
Hypsibius
		H. convergens Urbanowicz, 1925			X				X	M, Q
		H. dujardini Doyère, 1840				X			X	J
		H. pallidus Thulin, 1911			X	X			X	C, D, I, J, L, O, P, S
		Hypsibius sp.								B, F, G, P
Mesocrista
		M. marcusi Rudescu, 1964^c							X	I, P
		M. spitzbergensis (Richters, 1903)			X	X
Platicrista
		P. angustata Murray, 1905			X	X			X	D, J, K, M
		P. cheleusis Kathman, 1990							X	I
		P. itaquasconoide Durante Pasa & Maucci, 1975^c							X	I
Ramazzottidae
Ramazzottius
		R. oberhaeuseri Doyère, 1840			X				X	B, I, J, M, R
		Ramazzottius sp.							X	I, J
Isohypsibioiidae
Isohypsibius
		I. brevispinosus Iharos, 1966^e							X	I
		I. duranteae Maucci, 1964^c							X	S
		I. pauper Mihelcic, 1971^c							X	S
		I. prosostomus Thulin, 1928							X	A, I, S
		I. sattleri Richters, 1902			X				X	J
		I. tuberculatus (Plate, 1888)			X
		Isohypsibius sp. A			X				X	J
		Isohypsibius sp. B							X	E, I, M, P, S
Pseudobiotus
		Pseudobiotus sp.							X	S, T
Macrobiotidae
Adorybiotus
		A. granulatus (Richters, 1903)			X	X			X	L, M, Q
		Adorybiotussp.							X	M
Macrobiotus
		M. australis Pilato & D'Urso, 1976^c							X	Q
		M. crenulatus Richters, 1904^e							X	I, K, P
		M. echinogenitus Richters, 1904			X
		M. furciger Murray, 1907^d							X	X
		M. grandis Richters, 1911							X	A
		M. harmsworthi Murray, 1907			X	X			X	H, K, L, M, O, Q, R
		M. hufelandi C.A.S. Schultze, 1833		X	X	X			X	A, C, F, H, I, K, L, M, O, Q, R
		M. islandicus Richters, 1904		X	X				X	K
		M. montanus Murray, 1910			X
		M. occidentalis Murray, 1910							X	K, N, Q
		M. pallarii Maucci, 1954							X	H
		M. recens Cuénot, 1932							X	H
		M. spectabilis Thulin, 1928			X				X	A, I, N
		Macrobiotus sp.							X	X
Minibiotus
		M. intermedius Plate, 1888			X		X		X	H, L, M, Q
		Minibiotus sp.							X	A, I, Q
Paramacrobiotus
		P. areolatus Murray, 1907							X	A, M
Richtersius
		R. coronifer Richters, 1903^e							X	I, J, L, Q
Tenuibiotus
		T. fairbanksi Schill, Forster, Dandekar & Wolf, 2010						X
		T. hystricogenitus Maucci, 1988^c							X	Q
		T. willardi Pilato, 1977			X
Murrayidae
Dactylobiotus
		D. ambiguus (Murray, 1907)^e							X	Q
Murrayon
		M. hastatus Murray, 1907							X	T
		M. hibernicus Murray, 1911			X
		Totals	1	7	27	11	1	1	73	Total species 84

^a1938 is Mathews 1938; 1965 is Schuster & Grigarick 1965; 1982 is Dastych 1982; 1988 is Meininger & Spatt 1988; 1998 is Claxton; 2010 is Schill et al.; and 2012 is this study.

^bSee Table 1 for site codes.

^cNew records for North America.

^dNew record for the Americas.

^eNew records for the United States.

Fig. 2 Density of tardigrades from our four clusters of sites. No significant differences were found.

Fig. 3 Tardigrade richness from our four clusters of sites. Only the Bonanza and Kenai sites were significantly different from one another.

Table 3 Similarity (%) within and among clusters for tardigrade communities across Alaska.

	Kenai Peninsula	Bonanza	Brooks Range	Toolik
Kenai Peninsula	17.76	16.42	20.20	13.96
Bonanza		18.92	18.55	14.34
Brooks Range			18.99	15.49
Toolik				14.08

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