PhD defence by Pritam Dey

Resolving evolutionary and biogeographic conundrums in tardigrades via integrative taxonomy

Assessment Committee

• Associate professor Jørgen Olesen, SNM, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
• Associate professor Izabela Poprawa, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland
• Professor emeritus Paul Jon Barlets, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC

Supervisor(s)

• Associate Professor Martin Vinther Sørensen
• Associate Professor Lukasz Michaelczyk

Department

The Natural History Museum

Place

Digital defence, please follow the link: https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/j/68562004500?pwd=qblHdp4FoHpIGV8qc1gs1WYV9sYSdk.1
MeetingID, if relevant: 685 6200 4500
Password, if relevant: 639397

As the defence will be held digitally, we kindly ask guests who do not have an active role in the defence to mute their microphones and keep their cameras turned off throughout the defence. Questions from the audience should be submitted via the chat function.

Email address to gain access to the thesis: dey.pk93@gmail.com
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.

Short description of the thesis

For more than a century, some of the most puzzling tardigrade lineages have remained hidden behind misleading morphology, outdated descriptions and uncertain evolutionary relationships. In this thesis, I used an integrative taxonomic framework combining advanced microscopy and molecular data to uncover overlooked diversity, resolve long-standing systematic conflicts and reconstruct evolutionary patterns within Tardigrada.

Across four studies, this thesis revises problematic taxa within Hypsibioidea and Echiniscidae, reveals cryptic evolutionary lineages, establishes new taxa including Synonyxidae fam. nov. and Synonyx gen. nov. and shows how convergent evolution obscured true relationships in Tardigrada. By integrating morphology, genetics and biogeography, it provides a robust framework for future tardigrade systematics and evolutionary research.