クマムシ類（緩歩動物門）の系統分類学入門

抄録

Tardigrades are microscopic invertebrates comprising Panarthropoda with two other phyla, Arthropoda and Onychophora. More than one thousand tardigrade species are known worldwide from marine, freshwater, and limno-terrestrial environments. To facilitate beginners interested in tardigrade systematics, the collection methods for these three environments, the specimen preparation methods for light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, the DNA extraction procedures, and the recent advances in the systematics of the four orders belonging to the two classes, Eutardigrada (Apochela and Parachela) and Heterotardigrada (Arthrotardigrada and Echiniscoidea), are reviewed. The present status of the Japanese tardigrade fauna is also mentioned in brief.