Spelaeogriphacea
| Spelaeogriphacea Temporal range: Lower Carboniferous – Recent | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Spelaeogriphacea Gordon, 1957 |
| Family: | Spelaeogriphidae Gordon, 1957 |
| Genera | |
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Spelaeogriphacea is an order of crustaceans that grow to no more than 10 millimetres (0.39 in). Little is known about the ecology of the order.[1]
Only four species, all subterranean, have been described. Of the three genera, Potiicoara is known only from a cave in Brazil's Mato Grosso, Spelaeogriphus only from a cave on Table Mountain in South Africa, and the two Mangkurtu species only from individual Australian aquifers.[1] This widely separated distribution implies an early origin for the group, hypothesised as emerging at least 200 million years ago in the Tethys Sea around Gondwana.[1]
The fossil species Acadiocaris novascotica is also considered to belong to the Spelaeogriphacea.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 D. Jaume (2008). "Global diversity of spelaeogriphaceans & thermosbaenaceans (Crustacea; Spelaeogriphacea & Thermosbaenacea) in freshwater". Hydrobiologia 595 (1): 219–224. doi:10.1007/s10750-007-9017-1.
- ↑ Shen Yan-bin, Rod S. Taylor & Frederick R. Schram (1998). "New spelaeogriphacean (Crustacea: Peracarida) from the Upper Jurassic of China". Contributions to Zoology 68 (1): 19–36.
External links
Data related to Spelaeogriphacea at Wikispecies
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