Paradoryphoribius

Paradoryphoribius is an extinct genus of tardigrades from the order Parachela.^[1][2] It is the third fossil tardigrade to be named, described in 2021 from Miocene Dominican amber from the Dominican Republic. The type, and currently only species, is P. chronocaribbeus.^[3]

Paradoryphoribius Temporal range: Miocene (Burdigalian), ~16 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Life reconstruction of Paradoryphoribius
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Tardigrada
Class:	Eutardigrada
Order:	Parachela
Superfamily:	Isohypsibioidea
Genus:	†Paradoryphoribius Mapalo et al. 2021
Species:	†P. chronocaribbeus
Binomial name
†Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus Mapalo et al., 2021

Discovery and naming

The holotype was discovered in Miocene Dominican amber from the Dominican Republic.^[3] The amber specimen also contains three ants, a beetle, and a flower.

Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus was named and described by Mapalo et al. (2021),^[1] making it the first extinct tardigrade known from the Cenozoic and is also the first tardigrade known from the Miocene.^[4]

Description

It has a length of 539 microns.^{[citation needed]}

Classification

In their description of Aerobius dactylus, Mapalo, Wolfe & Ortega-Hernández (2024) phylogenetically analyzed a combination of morphological features and rRNA sequences of multiple known tardigrade species. They recovered Paradoryphorybius as the sister taxon of Hexapodibius micronyx. These results are displayed in the cladogram below, with extinct species designated with a dagger (†):^[5][6]

Eutardigrada	Milnesium Parachela Eohypsibioidea Macrobiotoidea Isohypsibioidea Ramajendas frigidus Isohypsibius prosostomus Halobiotus crispae Doryphoribius macrodon Hexapodibius micronyx †Paradoryphoribius Hypsibioidea Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri Microhypsibius truncatus Acutuncus antarcticus Calohypsibius ornatus Hypsibius dujardini †Beorn †Aerobius

References

1. "Paradoryphoribius Mapalo et al., 2021". www.gbif.org. GBIF. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
2. Pool, Rebecca (11 October 2021). "New tardigrade genus discovered". Wiley Analytical Science. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
3. Mapalo, M. A.; Robin, N.; Boudinot, B. E.; Ortega-Hernández, J.; Barden, P. (2021). "A tardigrade in Dominican amber". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 288 (1960): Article ID 20211760. doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.1760. PMC 8493197. PMID 34610770.
4. Lanese, Nicoletta (5 October 2021). "Tardigrade trapped in amber is a never-before-seen species". Live Science. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
5. Mapalo, Marc A.; Wolfe, Joanna M.; Ortega-Hernández, Javier (2024-08-06). "Cretaceous amber inclusions illuminate the evolutionary origin of tardigrades". Communications Biology. 7 (1): 953. doi:10.1038/s42003-024-06643-2. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 11303527. PMID 39107512.
6. Cooper, Kenneth W. (1964-01-01). "The first fossil tardigrade: Beorn leggi Cooper, from Cretaceous amber". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology. 71 (2): 41–48. doi:10.1155/1964/48418. ISSN 0033-2615.