Thecostraca

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Thecostraca
Seepocke fg1.jpg
A barnacle of the family Balanidae, Mission Beach, Queensland, Australia, 2001.
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Thecostraca
Gruvel, 1905
Subclasses

Thecostraca is a class of marine invertebrates containing over 2,200 described species.[1] Many species have planktonic larvae which become sessile or parasitic as adults.

The most important subgroup are the barnacles (subclass Cirripedia), constituting a little over 2,100 known species.[1]

The subgroup Facetotecta contains a single genus, Hansenocaris, known only from the tiny planktonic nauplii called "y-larvae". These larvae have no known adult form, though it is suspected that they are parasites, and their affinity is uncertain. Some researchers believe that they may be larval tantulocaridans. No larval tantulocaridans are known, so this would solve two puzzles at once.[2]

The group Ascothoracida contains about 110 species, all parasites of coelenterates and echinoderms.[1][3]

Classification[]

This article follows Chan et al. (2021) and the World Register of Marine Species in placing Thecostraca as a class of Crustacea and in the following classification of thecostracans down to the level of orders. Previously, Thecostraca was considered a subclass of Maxillopoda.[2] Significant changes in the organization of Cirripedia's orders, families, and genera were introduced in 2021 by Chan et al. and accepted by the World Register of Marine Species.[1][4]

Class Thecostraca Gruvel, 1905

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Chan, Benny K. K.; Dreyer, Niklas; Gale, Andy S.; Glenner, Henrik; et al. (2021). "The evolutionary diversity of barnacles, with an updated classification of fossil and living forms". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa160.
  2. ^ a b Joel W. Martin & George E. Davis (2001). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea (PDF). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 132 pp.
  3. ^ Paul Schmid-Hempel (2011). "The diversity and natural history of parasites". Evolutionary Parasitology: the Integrated Study of Infections, Immunology, Ecology, and Genetics. Oxford University Press. pp. 18–51. ISBN 978-0-19-922949-9.
  4. ^ "World Register of Marine Species, class Thecostraca". Retrieved 2021-08-22.

External links[]

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