The
Aerobius holotype specimen,
MCZ PALE-4586 is embedded in a piece of amber collected in 1940 by William M. Legg in Manitoba, Canada. The
type locality is near where the
Saskatchewan River enters
Cedar Lake. The individual is curled and notably shriveled. The holotype of
Beorn is preserved in the same amber piece as
Aerobius. In the 1964 description of
Beorn, Kenneth W. Cooper noted the presence of a much smaller—seemingly poorly preserved—tardigrade potentially distinct from
Beorne in the same amber matrix. However, he refrained from describing this individual due to his inability to reliably determine its anatomical details. New imaging techniques developed since then allowed for later researchers to describe the smaller specimen in detail. In 2024, Mapalo, Wolfe & Ortega-Hernández
described Aerobius dactylus as a new genus and species of tardigrade based on the smaller individual preserved in amber alongside
Beorn. The
generic name,
Aerobius, is derived from the modified
Greek prefix "
aero-", denoting "air", in reference to the holotype's apparent midair suspension in amber. The
specific name,
dactylus, is derived from the
Latin word "
dactylus", meaning "finger", referencing the distinctive claws of the holotype.
Paradoryphoribius, the youngest known fossil tardigrade from the Miocene of the Dominican Republic, was named in 2021. == Description ==