Ascothoracida

Ascothoracida
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Maxillopoda
Subclass: Thecostraca
Infraclass: Ascothoracida
Lacaze-Duthiers, 1880 [1]
Orders and families [2]

Dendrogastrida Grygier, 1987

  • Ascothoracidae Grygier, 1987
  • Ctenosculidae Thiele, 1925
  • Dendrogastridae Gruvel, 1905

Laurida Grygier, 1987

  • Lauridae Gruvel, 1905
  • Petrarcidae Gruvel, 1905
  • Synagogidae Gruvel, 1905

Ascothoracida is a small group of crustaceans, comprising around 100 species.[3] They are found throughout the world, and are parasites on cnidarians and echinoderms.[4]

Ascothoracida was previously ranked as an order within the infraclass Cirripedia (barnacles), but now considered a separate infraclass.[2] The two infraclasses together make up the subclass Thecostraca.[2]

The thorax has six pair of biramous appendages, while the abdomen has four segments and a terminal telson with a caudal furca.[5] This arrangement is similar to that seen in copepods.[5] In addition, there is a bivalved carapace, which is expanded in females.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Ascothoracida Lacaze-Duthiers, 1880". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=621150. Retrieved December 8, 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c Joel W. Martin & George E. Davis (2001) (PDF). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 132 pp. http://atiniui.nhm.org/pdfs/3839/3839.pdf. 
  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 9780199229499. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OiyYhChj7GwC&pg=PA31. 
  4. ^ J. K. Lowry (October 2, 1999). "Ascothoracida (Thecostraca, Maxillipoda)". Crustacea, the Higher Taxa: Description, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Australian Museum. http://www.crustacea.net/crustace/www/ascothor.htm. Retrieved December 31, 2009. 
  5. ^ a b c D. R. Khanna (2004). "Segmentation in arthropods". Biology of Arthropoda. Discovery Publishing House. pp. 316–394. ISBN 9788171418978. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Hd4OEDo4gbwC&pg=PA354. 

External links