Tardigrades exhibit robust interlimb coordination across walking speeds and terrains.

ABSTRACT: Tardigrades must negotiate heterogeneous, fluctuating environments and accordingly utilize locomotive strategies capable of dealing with variable terrain. We analyze the kinematics and interleg coordination of freely walking tardigrades (species: Hypsibius exemplaris). We find that tardigrade walking replicates several key features of walking in insects despite disparities in size, skeleton, and habitat. To test the effect of environmental changes on tardigrade locomotor control circuits we measure kinematics and interleg coordination during walking on two substrates of different stiffnesses. We find that the phase offset between contralateral leg pairs is flexible, while ipsilateral coordination is preserved across environmental conditions. This mirrors similar results in insects and crus

SUBMITTER: Nirody JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8536314 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature