UNITY, Maine — A team of researchers from Unity College in Maine has discovered a new species of tardigrade, a microscopic organism known for its ability to survive extreme conditions.
The Portland Press Herald reports university environmentalists found the eight-legged invertebrate on barnacles collected from Allen Island, a 450-acre stretch off the coast of Maine that is owned by the family of artist Andrew Wyeth.
Dr. Emma Perry, a professor of marine biology at the college's Center for Biodiversity, says that under a microscope, the invertebrate looks like a gummy bear. On average, it measures just 0.039 of an inch.
She named the micro-animal Echiniscoides Wyethi after the Wyeth family.
Perry documented her team's May 2014 discovery in a paper published in The Biological Society of Washington.