Ecological and faunistic studies on tardigrades in leaf litter of beach forests

Tardigrades in leaf litter were collected from beech forests on Roan Mounta in (TN, U.S.A.) and Modenese Apennine (Italy) at different altitudes and du ring different seasons. Twenty-six species of eutardigrades and 6 species o f heterotardigrades were found on Room Mountain and 20 species of eutardigr ades on Apennine. In both cases the tardigrade communities showed great bio diversity and a similar species composition, represented by hygrophilous an d eurytypic taxa. Differences in the number of specimens and the species co mposition were found, related to substrate layers, altitudes and seasons.