''Proechiniscus hanneae'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

tardigrade Tardigrades (), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them Kleiner Wasserbär ...

. It is the only species of ''Proechiniscus'', a genus within the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Echiniscidae The Echiniscidae are a family of tardigrades, a phylum of water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animals. It is one of the four families in the order Echiniscoidea.

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Greenland, where they occur on Disko Island.Brandt, Thomsen, Heide-Jorgensen, Kristensen & Ruhberg, 1999 :
The 1998 Danish-German Excursion to Disko Island, West Greenland.
' Berichte zur Polarforschung, Bremerhaven, Bundesrepublik Deutschland : Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polarforschung, no. 330. The species was first described as '' Pseudechiniscus hanneae'' by Børge Petersen in 1951. It was placed in the new genus of ''Proechinscus'' by

Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen (born 1948) is a Danish invertebrate biologist, noted for the discovery of three new phyla of microscopic animals: the Loricifera in 1983, the Cycliophora in 1995, and the Micrognathozoa in 2000. He is also considere ...

in 1987.

References

Further reading