tardigrade

/'tɑ:brʌʃ/

Thân thiện

A tardigrade crawls slowly across a wet moss leaf.

Definition

Noun: - A microscopic, water-dwelling animal belonging to the phylum Tardigrada, characterized by a short, plump body with four pairs of stubby legs. Tardigrades are known for their extreme resilience and ability to survive in harsh environmental conditions.

Usage

• Tardigrades are often studied for their remarkable ability to enter a state of suspended animation called cryptobiosis.
• The word is used as a countable noun to refer to individual animals of this type.

Examples

• Under the microscope, we observed a tardigrade moving slowly across the algae.
• Scientists discovered that tardigrades can survive the vacuum of space.
• The tardigrade's ability to withstand extreme dehydration is unparalleled in the animal kingdom.

Advanced Usage

• "Tardigrade" as a model organism: In scientific research, tardigrades are used as model organisms to study extremophiles and biological survival mechanisms.
  • Research on the tardigrade has provided insights into cellular protection during desiccation.

Variants and Related Words

• Tardigrada (noun, plural): The scientific phylum name to which all tardigrades belong.
  • The phylum Tardigrada includes over 1,300 described species.

Synonyms

• Water bear (common name)
• Moss piglet (common name)

Different Meanings

• The term "tardigrade" is specific to biology and zoology. It does not have other common meanings in general English.

Idioms and Phrases

• There are no common idioms or phrasal verbs in English that use the word "tardigrade." It is a specialized scientific term.

Học thuật

Noun

1. an arthropod of the division Tardigrada