MEYER, H. A.; McNeese State University: Terrestrial Tardigrada of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

The distribution of tardigrades in North America remains poorly known. Although a few areas have been intensively sampled, much of the continent has never been surveyed. Only four species have been reported in the state of Michigan: Macrobiotus hufelandi and Isohypsibius prosostomus on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, and Hexapodibius pilatoi and Diphascon {Adropion) belgicae in soil from the Lower Peninsula. In July 2005 I collected cryptogams from woodlands in the Upper Peninsula. Sites in all of the Upper Peninsula’s 15 counties were sampled. Eleven tardigrade species were present in these mosses and lichens: the heterotardigrade Echiniscus virginicus and the eutardigrades Diphascon (Diphascon) iltisi, D. (D.) stappersi, Hypsibius arcticus, H. calcaratus, Ramazzottius baumanni, Macrobiotus echinogenitus, Macrobiotus cf. hufelandi, Macrobiotus tonollii, Minibiotus intermedius, and Milnesium tardigradum. The most widely distributed tardigrades were the cosmopolitan species Milnesium tardigradum and Minibiotus intermedius. The known distribution of Echiniscus virginicus and D. (D.) stappersi in North America was hitherto limited to the southeastern United States.