# Were there ever any 6-limbed animals other than insects?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-ever-any-6-limbed-animals-other-than-insects/754521>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 11, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-ever-any-6-limbed-animals-other-than-insects/754521 "2016-05-11T02:53:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-ever-any-6-limbed-animals-other-than-insects/754521/81 "2016-05-20T05:39:24Z")

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Tardigrades (phylum: Tardigrades) have 8 legs.

> **[Tardigrade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade)**
>
> Tardigrades (/ˈtɑːrdɪˌɡreɪdz/), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them Kleiner Wasserbär ("little water bear"). In 1777, the Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani named them Tardigrada (/tɑːrˈdɪɡrədə/), which means "slow steppers".
> They have been found in diverse regions of Earth's biosphere – mountaintops, the deep sea, tropic...

gif:  
[https://twitter.com/Perspective\_pic/status/733445628496367616](https://twitter.com/Perspective_pic/status/733445628496367616)  
They are part of the taxon [Panarthropoda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panarthropoda), which also includes phylum Arthropoda (the insect phylum) and the phylum [Onychophora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychophora) or velvet worms. Many species in this taxon are known to transmit the heebie jeebies.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-ever-any-6-limbed-animals-other-than-insects/754521/82 "2016-05-20T18:55:50Z")

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> [@bibliophage](#):
>
> One of the more familiar non-insect hexapods around these parts is the tiny black [snow flea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypogastrura_nivicola), which is a kind of springtail and not a true flea. I often see them by the thousands on top of the snow on warm days in late winter and early spring.

Long ago, my evil dad said we had to get the storm windows up “before the snow flies.”  
At last, I know what he meant !

Some climate change deniers remove the space to angrily talk about Algore. After a few beers, they’re talking about Algar.

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