{ "model": { "rank": 2741, "code": "thing-q5194", "model_id": "vr.tr.tardigrade", "name": "tardigrade", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a tardigrade, assess its observed condition without confusing inactivity with death, and choose evidence-supported observation, care or experimental actions.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Physical world and living systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "PHY", "domain": "PHY.LIV", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q5194/", "tier": 2, "score": 98, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 98, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.tardigrade", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q5194", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5194", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-07T11:30:35Z", "providers": [ "Codex", "Grok" ], "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "usd": 0.0118337, "turns": 1, "seconds": 147.7, "error": null }, "codex": { "seconds": 90.1, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.3\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a07b9d-7461-7d32-9c0b-6011bff5a59c\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: tardigrade\nRegistry id: vr.tr.tardigrade\nPlane / domain: PHY / PHY.LIV\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into this entry: (none)\n\nA V" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q5194", "registryId": "vr.tr.tardigrade", "name": "tardigrade", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "PHY.LIV" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q5194/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.tardigrade", "name": "tardigrade", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a tardigrade, assess its observed condition without confusing inactivity with death, and choose evidence-supported observation, care or experimental actions.", "definition": "A phylum (Tardigrada) of microscopic panarthropod ecdysozoans with a compact, five-region body, four pairs of unjointed lobopodous legs ending in claws or adhesive digits, a piercing-sucking buccal apparatus with paired stylets, and, in many limno-terrestrial species, reversible cryptobiosis (notably the anhydrobiotic tun).", "scope_statement": "This model owns the identity, body condition, life stage, activity, environmental dependencies and intervention history of an individual tardigrade, with explicit uncertainty where identification or viability cannot be established.", "in_scope": [ "Specimen-level identification and evidence distinguishing tardigrades from similar microscopic animals", "Body integrity, locomotion, feeding and other observable signs of condition", "Life stage, reproductive observations and relationships to associated eggs", "Hydration, inactivity, suspected dormancy and recovery observations", "Immediate habitat conditions, handling history and suitability for proposed actions" ], "out_of_scope": [ "Taxonomic nomenclature and authoritative revision of Tardigrada", "Moss, lichen, sediment or other substrate as an ecosystem or physical sample", "Population abundance, community composition and ecosystem function", "Microscope, imaging system and environmental chamber operation", "Experimental protocol governance and laboratory collection management", "Independent development and condition of an egg or embryo" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "In a sufficiently resolved specimen, look for a compact body with four pairs of short, unjointed limbs; distinguish this arrangement from the unsegmented, limbless outline of a nematode.", "Resolve the limbs rather than relying on apparent leg count: distinguish tardigrade limb form and body organisation from those of a mite.", "Check for rotifer-like anterior ciliation and a posterior foot when an indistinct specimen could be a rotifer; apparent crawling alone is insufficient for identification.", "Where visible, combine terminal claw or digit configuration with the buccopharyngeal apparatus and cuticle features; treat an image lacking these details as limited identification evidence.", "Do not identify a contracted particle as a tardigrade solely because it resembles a tun; require anatomical evidence, continuity from an identified animal or documented recovery." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Identification resolution", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "suspected tardigrade | confirmed tardigrade | higher taxon assigned | species assigned; confidence and evidence required", "why_it_matters": "Determines which biological expectations and handling evidence can reasonably be applied." }, { "name": "Body length", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "µm, with posture, endpoint definition and calibration", "why_it_matters": "Supports comparison and identification while preventing contracted and extended measurements from being treated as equivalent." }, { "name": "Diagnostic anatomy visibility", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "For limbs, terminal structures, mouth apparatus and cuticle: resolved | partly resolved | not resolved", "why_it_matters": "Separates absence of a structure from failure to observe it." }, { "name": "Body integrity", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "apparently intact | visibly injured | deformed | obscured | indeterminate", "why_it_matters": "Informs handling decisions and interpretation of impaired movement." }, { "name": "Observed activity", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "locomoting | appendage movement only | feeding observed | no movement observed | not assessed; timestamp and observation duration", "why_it_matters": "Provides direct observations without equating immobility with death or dormancy." }, { "name": "Hydration and posture", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "External moisture context plus extended | contracted | tun-like | indeterminate posture", "why_it_matters": "Keeps visible posture separate from an inferred physiological state." }, { "name": "Viability assessment", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "evidence of life observed | viability unresolved | death supported by stated assessment", "why_it_matters": "Prevents premature disposal or unsupported claims of survival." }, { "name": "Life stage and moulting condition", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "juvenile | adult | unresolved; moulting evidence recorded separately", "why_it_matters": "Conditions interpretation of size, feeding, inactivity and reproductive observations." }, { "name": "Immediate environmental conditions", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "Temperature in °C; salinity, pH and moisture measurements where relevant, with methods and timestamps", "why_it_matters": "Connects observed condition and proposed transfers to the specimen's actual surroundings." }, { "name": "Source habitat", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Link to collection sample, substrate or culture, including aquatic or terrestrial context", "why_it_matters": "Preserves ecological context needed to evaluate maintenance conditions." }, { "name": "Exposure history", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Ordered events recording agent or stressor, intensity, duration, hydration context and recovery observations", "why_it_matters": "Makes survival and injury claims specific to documented conditions." }, { "name": "Associated eggs or exuviae", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Observed association | directly observed production | uncertain association; linked evidence", "why_it_matters": "Supports reproductive and identification observations without assigning nearby material to the specimen by proximity alone." } ], "affordances": [ "Locate, image and measure the specimen using preparation conditions that preserve the observations needed.", "Assign a provisional identification and request additional views or specialist review when diagnostic anatomy is unresolved.", "Transfer or maintain the specimen under conditions supported for its taxon and source habitat.", "Monitor inactivity and, where justified, apply a documented rehydration procedure while tracking recovery.", "Offer a supported food source and record feeding evidence rather than assuming suitability.", "Evaluate a proposed exposure against specimen-specific evidence and record its conditions and outcome." ] }, "sources": [ { "id": "nelson-thorp-covich", "title": "Phylum Tardigrada, in Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Body plan, classes, habitats, and the cryptobiosis account used in the definition and kinds" }, { "id": "degma-guidetti-checklist", "title": "Actual checklist of Tardigrada species (continuously updated taxonomic list)", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Described-species scale and the living class/family practice (Heterotardigrada, Eutardigrada; Mesotardigrada doubtful)" }, { "id": "jonsson-2008-cub", "title": "Tardigrades survive exposure to space in low Earth orbit", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Documented space-exposure use and the limits of tun survival under vacuum and radiation" }, { "id": "iczn-code", "title": "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 4th edition", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "That tardigrade scientific names are governed by ICZN, not by a separate product or ISO code" }, { "id": "ncbi-taxonomy-tardigrada", "title": "NCBI Taxonomy Browser: Tardigrada (taxon 42241)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=42241", "what_it_supports": "NCBI Taxonomy identifier for the phylum", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "wikipedia-tardigrade", "title": "Tardigrade", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade", "what_it_supports": "Vernacular names, Wikidata linkage, and a cross-check of size, habitat and popular claims versus specialist limits", "url_status": "live" } ], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "recognition-and-identification", "name": "Recognition and identification", "description": "Establish that the observed organism is a tardigrade and bound the precision of its identification.", "rationale": "Misidentification or unjustified species assignment makes subsequent biological and handling assumptions unreliable.", "layers": [ { "id": "tardigrade-recognition", "name": "Tardigrade recognition", "description": "Assess the whole-body evidence needed to distinguish the specimen from lookalikes.", "findings": [ { "id": "diagnostic-body-plan", "name": "Diagnostic body plan", "description": "Record visible limb arrangement, body form and competing identifications without treating obscured anatomy as absent.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which resolved anatomical features support identification as a tardigrade rather than a rotifer, nematode or mite?", "kind": "definition", "id": "diagnostic-body-plan-q01" }, { "text": "Does contraction, orientation or image resolution prevent a reliable distinction?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "diagnostic-body-plan-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "taxonomic-resolution", "name": "Taxonomic resolution", "description": "Connect the assigned taxon to diagnostic evidence and an identification method.", "findings": [ { "id": "supported-taxon-assignment", "name": "Supported taxon assignment", "description": "Record which terminal structures, cuticle features, mouth structures or other evidence justify the identification.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which identification reference or specialist assessment was used, and which specimen features matched it?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "supported-taxon-assignment-q01" }, { "text": "What is the finest defensible taxonomic assignment, and what missing evidence prevents a narrower one?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "supported-taxon-assignment-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "body-function-and-life-stage", "name": "Body function and life stage", "description": "Describe the animal's physical condition, functional observations and developmental context.", "rationale": "Posture, damage and life stage affect both assessment of condition and the interpretation of inactivity.", "layers": [ { "id": "integrity-and-locomotion", "name": "Integrity and locomotion", "description": "Observe body dimensions, limb function and visible damage.", "findings": [ { "id": "physical-condition", "name": "Physical condition", "description": "Tie measurements and locomotor observations to posture and preparation conditions.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the calibrated body dimensions and posture, and is movement coordinated across the visible limbs?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "physical-condition-q01" }, { "text": "Could apparent flattening, impaired movement or injury have resulted from mounting pressure or transfer?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "physical-condition-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "development-and-moulting", "name": "Development and moulting", "description": "Assess life stage and evidence of a moult.", "findings": [ { "id": "developmental-context", "name": "Developmental context", "description": "Separate supported stage assignments and moulting observations from size-based guesses.", "questions": [ { "text": "What observations support the assigned life stage or a current or recent moult?", "kind": "definition", "id": "developmental-context-q01" }, { "text": "Is an apparent empty body an exuvium, a dead animal or unresolved material, and what evidence distinguishes them?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "developmental-context-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "hydration-inactivity-and-recovery", "name": "Hydration, inactivity and recovery", "description": "Track moisture context, contraction, inactivity and subsequent signs of life.", "rationale": "A tun-like appearance or lack of movement does not by itself establish cryptobiosis, death or future recovery.", "layers": [ { "id": "inactivity-assessment", "name": "Inactivity assessment", "description": "Distinguish direct observations from interpretations of physiological state.", "findings": [ { "id": "inactive-state-evidence", "name": "Inactive-state evidence", "description": "Record posture and observation conditions before assigning a dormancy or viability interpretation.", "questions": [ { "text": "During what observation interval and moisture and temperature conditions was no movement detected?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "inactive-state-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence supports suspected dormancy, and which alternatives such as moulting, injury or death remain unresolved?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "inactive-state-evidence-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rehydration-and-follow-up", "name": "Rehydration and follow-up", "description": "Record justified recovery procedures and time-resolved outcomes.", "findings": [ { "id": "recovery-evidence", "name": "Recovery evidence", "description": "Distinguish initial movement from sustained functional recovery and keep negative observations bounded by the monitoring period.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which rehydration medium, temperature, timing and handling procedure are supported for this specimen's identified taxon or habitat?", "kind": "action", "id": "recovery-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "When did movement, coordinated locomotion or feeding resume, and how long was subsequent function observed?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "recovery-evidence-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "habitat-feeding-and-reproduction", "name": "Habitat, feeding and reproduction", "description": "Connect the individual to its source environment and observed resource and reproductive relationships.", "rationale": "The label tardigrade alone does not specify suitable maintenance conditions, diet or reproductive interpretation.", "layers": [ { "id": "microhabitat-and-food", "name": "Microhabitat and food", "description": "Preserve source conditions and assess feeding opportunities.", "findings": [ { "id": "maintenance-context", "name": "Maintenance context", "description": "Link habitat evidence and observed feeding to proposed holding conditions.", "questions": [ { "text": "From which substrate or water sample was the animal recovered, and what environmental conditions were measured there?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "maintenance-context-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence supports the proposed holding medium and food, and has ingestion actually been observed?", "kind": "action", "id": "maintenance-context-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "reproductive-associations", "name": "Reproductive associations", "description": "Record reproductive events and relationships to eggs or shed cuticle.", "findings": [ { "id": "egg-and-parent-association", "name": "Egg and parent association", "description": "Maintain the distinction between observed production and simple spatial association.", "questions": [ { "text": "Was egg production directly observed, or were eggs merely found nearby or within associated shed cuticle?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "egg-and-parent-association-q01" }, { "text": "Which reproductive conclusions can be supported for this individual, and which require observations beyond egg presence?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "egg-and-parent-association-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "handling-exposure-and-action-limits", "name": "Handling, exposure and action limits", "description": "Assess proposed manipulations and preserve the context needed to interpret their consequences.", "rationale": "General claims about tardigrade resilience cannot establish safe conditions or likely survival for an individual.", "layers": [ { "id": "observation-and-transfer", "name": "Observation and transfer", "description": "Choose preparation and transfer methods appropriate to the intended observation and specimen use.", "findings": [ { "id": "preparation-consequences", "name": "Preparation consequences", "description": "Record whether an observation requires a live, recoverable animal or a permanently prepared specimen.", "questions": [ { "text": "Must the animal remain viable after observation, and which preparation method supports that requirement?", "kind": "action", "id": "preparation-consequences-q01" }, { "text": "What mounting medium, confinement, illumination and transfer events could affect its subsequent condition?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "preparation-consequences-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "stress-exposure-interpretation", "name": "Stress exposure interpretation", "description": "Evaluate exposure evidence at the level of taxon, state, intensity, duration and outcome.", "findings": [ { "id": "bounded-tolerance-evidence", "name": "Bounded tolerance evidence", "description": "Require a documented match between relevant evidence and the proposed intervention, with explicit outcome criteria.", "questions": [ { "text": "Does the evidence for the proposed exposure match this animal's taxon, life stage, hydration state and exposure duration?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "bounded-tolerance-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "Which exposure parameters, stopping criteria and follow-up observations will distinguish transient movement from sustained recovery?", "kind": "action", "id": "bounded-tolerance-evidence-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Heterotardigrada - cephalic cirri and clavae present; includes plated moss forms and most marine taxa", "Eutardigrada - unplated body, Malpighian organs; most freshwater and moss species", "Arthrotardigrada - marine heterotardigrades with telescopic legs and, typically, a median cirrus", "Echiniscoidea - mostly limno-terrestrial plated heterotardigrades (Echiniscidae) plus a few marine families", "Apochela (Milnesiidae) - predatory eutardigrades with separate claw branches (e.g. Milnesium)", "Parachela - remaining eutardigrades with fused primary and secondary claw branches (Macrobiotidae, Hypsibiidae and allies)", "Mesotardigrada - historical class based only on Thermozodium esakii; type material lost and the taxon treated as doubtful", "Limno-terrestrial versus marine ecological guilds - the practical split used in extraction, mounting and identification" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of tardigrade this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-identifiers", "name": "Identifiers and schemes", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "scheme": "Wikidata item", "value_or_pattern": "Q10173", "note": "Phylum Tardigrada" }, { "scheme": "NCBI Taxonomy", "value_or_pattern": "42241", "note": "txid for Tardigrada; species written as NCBI:txidNNNNN" }, { "scheme": "ITIS TSN", "value_or_pattern": "155166", "note": "Taxonomic Serial Number for the phylum" }, { "scheme": "ICZN binomial", "value_or_pattern": "Genus species (authority, year)", "note": "Species-group names of tardigrades are formed and available only under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-identifiers-q01", "text": "Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of tardigrade this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation", "name": "Standards and regulation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature) - availability, types and spelling of scientific names", "Convention on Biological Diversity and Nagoya Protocol (CBD / national ABS laws) - permit and benefit-sharing rules when specimens or DNA are collected and moved across borders", "No taxon-specific ISO, food, drug or biosafety standard governs tardigrades as a product class" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01", "text": "Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of tardigrade this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Research organism for cryptobiosis, anhydrobiosis and tardigrade intrinsically disordered proteins (CAHS, SAHS, MAHS and related TDPs)", "Space-biology payload (e.g. the TARDIS experiment on FOTON-M3 and later orbital work) testing tun survival in vacuum and radiation", "Teaching and amateur microscopy: animals washed from moss, lichen, leaf litter or sand into a water film", "Meiofaunal biodiversity surveys of marine sediments and of freshwater/moss habitats", "Astrobiology analogue in discussions of desiccation and radiation limits, not a commercial crop, livestock or industrial strain" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of tardigrade this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-measurements", "name": "Typical measurements", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "quantity": "Adult body length", "typical_range": "100-500 (published span about 50-1500)", "unit": "µm" }, { "quantity": "Described, currently used species names", "typical_range": "about 1400-1500 and still rising", "unit": "species" }, { "quantity": "Temperature while active and hydrated", "typical_range": "0-30", "unit": "°C" }, { "quantity": "Ionizing radiation survived in the tun (selected species, laboratory)", "typical_range": "hundreds to about 5000", "unit": "Gy" }, { "quantity": "Experimental hydrostatic pressure survived", "typical_range": "up to about 600", "unit": "MPa" }, { "quantity": "Documented anhydrobiotic storage with later revival", "typical_range": "months to about 20", "unit": "years" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-measurements-q01", "text": "Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of tardigrade this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Hydrated, active animals die if the water film evaporates before a tun is formed", "Cryptobiosis is not immortality: tuns accumulate damage and revival falls with time, oxygen and dose", "Popular 'indestructible' claims overshoot real limits (sustained high heat, some solvents, and long storage still kill them)", "Laboratory cultures are lost to fungal and bacterial overgrowth and to failed rehydration", "Type material is easily lost or unusable (Thermozodium esakii is the canonical case), which destabilises names", "Not a human pathogen and not a regulated pest; hazard is mainly misidentification and overstated survival in public communication" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of tardigrade this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Vernacular names: water bear and moss piglet (English), Bärtierchen (German), tardigrade as a loanword (French and scientific English), クマムシ kumamushi (Japanese)", "Taxonomic revisions of Parachela/Hypsibiidae have been driven by different European, Japanese and North American schools, so family assignment of the same moss species can differ by checklist vintage", "Marine interstitial (Arthrotardigrada) workers extract and mount specimens differently from moss and lichen workers", "Antarctic, Arctic and high-alpine moss faunas are disproportionately inventoried relative to tropical soils" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of tardigrade this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "name": "Bdelloid rotifer", "difference": "Ciliated corona and mastax, no clawed lobopods; often in the same moss film and also cryptobiotic" }, { "name": "Free-living nematode", "difference": "Vermiform, unsegmented in the tardigrade sense, no legs; shares soil and moss water films" }, { "name": "Oribatid mite", "difference": "Chelicerate arthropod with jointed legs and a sclerotized idiosoma; eight legs like a tardigrade but no buccal stylets of the tardigrade type and no tun" }, { "name": "Gastrotrich", "difference": "Ciliated cuticle and posterior adhesive tubes rather than four pairs of clawed lobopods" }, { "name": "Marine halacarid mite", "difference": "Meiofaunal mite in the same sand samples as arthrotardigrades; jointed appendages and chelicerae versus telescopic lobopods and a median cirrus" }, { "name": "Onychophoran (velvet worm)", "difference": "Related panarthropod but macroscopic, terrestrial, and with many pairs of stub feet rather than four" }, { "name": "Pollen grain or spore in a dry mount", "difference": "A contracted tun can look like a grain; rehydration and appearance of claws and stylets separate it" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of tardigrade this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Which current identification references and diagnostic character sets should govern assignments across the tardigrade groups encountered in this registry?", "What evidence is sufficient to distinguish tun-like contraction from a supported cryptobiotic-state assessment without destructive testing?", "Which taxon-specific rehydration procedures and observation periods justify interpreting continued inactivity as evidence of death?", "Which maintenance media, environmental ranges and foods are supported for specimens whose identification remains above species level?", "Which validated endpoints and follow-up durations should distinguish survival, sustained functional recovery and retained reproductive capacity after an exposure?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 11, "findings": 18, "questions": 28 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organism", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a tardigrade, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a tardigrade, assess its observed condition without confusing inactivity with death, and choose evidence-supported observation, care or experimental actions.", "characteristics": { "substance": "living", "origin": "natural", "agency": "autonomous", "mobility": "self-moving" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 98 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a tardigrade, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a living thing", "physicalCharacter": [ "Moves under its own power or of its own accord.", "Acts on its own behalf.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Recognised by diagnostic characters, and those differ by life stage - the young of many kinds are mistaken for other kinds entirely. A sighting is settled by characters, a photograph and a place, not by a name alone." ], "relatedModels": [], "standing": "Described in 98 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one tardigrade from another, and a tardigrade from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a tardigrade sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a tardigrade from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "form-and-composition", "name": "Form, composition and condition", "description": "What a tardigrade is made of, what shape and size it takes, and what state it is in.", "rationale": "A physical thing can be measured, and a model that cannot record its measurements cannot support any decision that depends on them.", "layers": [ { "id": "form-and-dimensions", "name": "Form and dimensions", "description": "Shape, size, mass and the ranges these take across examples.", "findings": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions", "name": "Measurable dimensions and their units", "description": "The quantities worth recording and the units they are recorded in.", "questions": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the dimensions of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the dimensions of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the dimensions of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "material-and-composition", "name": "Material and composition", "description": "Anatomy, parts and life stage.", "findings": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials", "name": "Parts and life stages", "description": "The parts of a tardigrade and the stages it passes through.", "questions": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the composition of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the composition of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the composition of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "condition-and-integrity", "name": "Condition and integrity", "description": "Wear, damage, health and the difference between working and broken.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition, damage and health", "description": "How the condition of a tardigrade is judged and by whom.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the condition of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the condition of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the condition of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "place-and-movement", "name": "Place and movement", "description": "Where a tardigrade is, how it got there and where it may go (self-moving).", "rationale": "A thing that can move needs its position recorded with a time, or every later claim about it is about a place it has left.", "layers": [ { "id": "location-and-placement", "name": "Location and placement", "description": "Position, containment and the reference frame the position is given in.", "findings": [ { "id": "position-and-frame", "name": "Position, container and reference frame", "description": "Where a tardigrade is, and what that position is measured against.", "questions": [ { "id": "position-and-frame-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the location of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the location of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the location of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "movement-and-transfer", "name": "Movement and transfer", "description": "How a tardigrade moves on its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "movement-events", "name": "Movement events and constraints", "description": "What counts as a movement, what records it and what limits it.", "questions": [ { "id": "movement-events-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the movement of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the movement of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the movement of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a tardigrade passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a tardigrade between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a tardigrade, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a tardigrade is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "taxonomic-placement", "name": "Taxonomic placement and identification", "description": "What tardigrade is called scientifically, by whose authority, and how a specimen is recognised.", "rationale": "Names change with revisions while the organism does not, so a name without its authority and date cannot be reconciled later.", "layers": [ { "id": "accepted-name", "name": "Accepted name and synonymy", "description": "The current binomial, its author and date, and the names it replaced.", "findings": [ { "id": "name-and-authority", "name": "Accepted name, authority and synonyms", "description": "What to record so a later revision can be applied without losing the old data.", "questions": [ { "id": "name-and-authority-q01", "text": "What is the accepted scientific name of tardigrade, with its author and year, and which synonyms does it absorb?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "name-and-authority-q02", "text": "Which taxonomic authority is being followed, and what would a competing authority say?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "field-identification", "name": "Field identification", "description": "The characters that separate tardigrade from what it is confused with.", "findings": [ { "id": "diagnostic-characters", "name": "Diagnostic characters and confusable kinds", "description": "Features that settle an identification, and those that only suggest it.", "questions": [ { "id": "diagnostic-characters-q01", "text": "Which observable characters distinguish tardigrade from its closest look-alikes, and at which life stage are they visible?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "diagnostic-characters-q02", "text": "What evidence is enough to record an identification as confirmed rather than provisional?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "life-cycle-and-condition", "name": "Life stages, condition and behaviour", "description": "What tardigrade does over its life and how its state is judged.", "rationale": "Stage and condition change what may be done - handled, treated, harvested, left alone - and both are observations with a time.", "layers": [ { "id": "stages-and-reproduction", "name": "Stages and reproduction", "description": "Development from origin to death, including forms that look like different animals.", "findings": [ { "id": "life-stages", "name": "Life stages and their marks", "description": "The stages worth recording and what tells them apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "life-stages-q01", "text": "What stages does tardigrade pass through, and what observable change marks each transition?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "life-stages-q02", "text": "Which stages are so unlike the adult that they are mistaken for another kind?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "health-and-condition", "name": "Health and condition", "description": "How condition is assessed and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition assessment", "description": "Signs of health, injury and stress, and who is competent to judge them.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "How is the condition of tardigrade judged, on what scale, and by whom?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "What condition obliges an agent to act, and what act is permitted to whom?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "range-and-status", "name": "Habitat, range and conservation status", "description": "Where tardigrade lives and how threatened it is.", "rationale": "Range and status govern what is lawful, and both are assessments with an assessor and a year rather than facts of nature.", "layers": [ { "id": "habitat-and-range", "name": "Habitat and range", "description": "Native range, introductions and the habitat it needs.", "findings": [ { "id": "range-record", "name": "Range, introductions and habitat", "description": "What to record about where it is found and how it got there.", "questions": [ { "id": "range-record-q01", "text": "What is the native range of tardigrade, where has it been introduced, and what habitat does it require?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "range-record-q02", "text": "What distinguishes a native record from an introduced or vagrant one?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "protection-status", "name": "Protection and legal status", "description": "Conservation assessments and the rules that follow from them.", "findings": [ { "id": "status-and-rules", "name": "Conservation status and legal consequence", "description": "The assessment, its date, and what it forbids or requires where.", "questions": [ { "id": "status-and-rules-q01", "text": "What conservation status does tardigrade hold, under which assessment and year?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "status-and-rules-q02", "text": "What does that status forbid or require of an agent, and in which jurisdiction?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a tardigrade came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a tardigrade and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a tardigrade is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a tardigrade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a tardigrade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a tardigrade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 8, "layers": 17, "findings": 19, "questions": 51 } } } }