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One of the strangest creatures in the known universe is the tardigrade, more commonly called a “water bear.” These microscopic eight-legged invertebrates are the “toughest creatures on earth.” They’re still around today but their ancestors roamed the planet 16 million years ago too. Fossils of them are the rarest of the rare. Until now, only two were known.
Thrilling water bear discovery
The water bear is such a strange creature that scientists wonder if it comes from some different planet entirely. It’s the only critter known to man that can “survive decades without food, extreme temperatures and even in the vacuum of space.”
Fossils of these fascinating creatures are extremely rare and some speculated if this one were to break out of it’s amber prison, after millions of years, it might just crawl away.
This study details the discovery of “a 16-million-year-old fossil of a tardigrade, otherwise known as a water bear or moss piglet, in a piece of amber from the Dominican Republic.”
They’re shouting from the rooftops how rare the discovery is, like finding a needle in a stack of haystacks the size of a planet. “There have been just two fossils of the creatures ever found before, despite the invertebrates continued inhabitance of the planet.”
Just finding the fossil is significant enough but it also gets the distinction of being the first water bear fossil to be “recovered from the current Cenozoic era, which began 66 million years ago.”
This little bugger gets a classification of its own. The discovery “has led to the naming of a new genus and species of tardigrade, Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus.”
For #waterbearWednesday, we introduce Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus, a new fossil tardigrade from Miocene Dominican amber @royalsociety. Study led by Marc Mapalo @HarvardOEB in collab w/@Haidomyrmex & fully OA thanks to support from @MCZHarvard ???? https://t.co/eIuGjbL3p0 pic.twitter.com/QVxmHUuMMA
— Javier Ortega Hernández (@InvertebratePal) October 6, 2021
Best imaged fossil
The amber encased specimen also takes a prize for “the best-imaged fossil tardigrade to date.” This water bear is so well preserved and positioned that researchers “were able to get a detailed look at the creature, seeing parts of its mouth and the needle-like claws that are 20 to 30 times finer than a human hair.” They’re calling it a “once-in-a-generation event” but even that is being modest.
“What is so remarkable is that tardigrades are a ubiquitous ancient lineage that has seen it all on Earth, from the fall of the dinosaurs to the rise of terrestrial colonization of plants. Yet, they are like a ghost lineage for paleontologists with almost no fossil record.” That’s what makes folks wonder where they came from in the first place. Thankfully, they don’t seem to be any threat.
“Finding any tardigrade fossil remains is an exciting moment where we can empirically see their progression through Earth history.” So far, “roughly 1,300 species” of water bear have been identified. National Geographic notes they’re found in every nook and cranny of the planet, “deep ocean, sand dunes and freshwater mosses.”
They have earned their classification as “extremophiles.” Some “can survive up to 30 years without food, temperatures ranging from absolute zero to above boiling, and even in the vacuum of space.”
They aren’t easy to find even when they’re alive and you know where to look. The average water bear measures in “at just about a half millimeter in size.”
Phil Barden, the scientist credited with the discovery shares the glory with “his co-author Brendon Boudinot, who spotted it next to the ants they had been analyzing.” Barden admits he “never would have spotted it.”
