INITIAL TARDIGRADE AND MEIOFAUNA INVENTORY

Prior to our work only one published paper reported tardigrades from the GSMNP (Riggin, Jr. 1964). This included an unspecified number of samples taken on one day, containing three species.

To date, WWC has collected 152 terrestrial samples from 8 ATBI plots, and 68 aquatic samples from 6 streams.  46 of the terrestrial samples and 32 of the aquatic samples have been fully processed yielding 1181 individually mounted specimens.  Of these, 927 have been identified.  Additionally, the Central Missouri State group has made extensive collections, yielding a total of 142 identified specimens (106 from Paul Davison and 36 from Buck Counts).

The species list from the 1069 identified specimens for the park is attached.  The list now includes 33 species.  Two groups of specimens warrant further investigation to determine if they are new species.