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Hemichordate
Hemichordata is a phylum which consists of triploblastic, enterocoelomate, and bilaterally symmetrical marine deuterostome animals, generally considered the sister group of the echinoderms. They appear in the Lower or Middle Cambrian and include two main classes: Enteropneusta (acorn worms), and Pterobranchia. A third class, Planctosphaeroidea, is known only from the larva of a single species, ''Planctosphaera pelagica''. The class Graptolithina, formerly considered extinct, is now placed within the pterobranchs, represented by a single living genus ''Rhabdopleura''. Acorn worms are solitary worm-shaped organisms. They generally live in burrows (the earliest secreted tubes) and are deposit feeders, but some species are pharyngeal filter feeders, while the family Torquaratoridae are free living detritivores. Many are well known for their production and accumulation of various halogenated phenols and pyrroles. Pterobranchs are filter-feeders, mostly colonial, living in a collageno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planctosphaera Pelagica
''Planctosphaera pelagica'' is a hemichordate and the only known representative of the class Planctosphaeroidea. The species is known only by its free swimming larvae. The larvae are tornaria A tornaria is the planktonic larva of some species of Hemichordata such as the acorn worms. It is very similar in appearance to the bipinnaria larvae of starfish Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class ... larvae similar to those of the closely related Enteropneusta, which possess a ciliated band to capture food particles. ''Planctosphaera pelagica'' is unique in possessing mucus secreting glands around the ciliated band. Possible uses of the mucus glands include assisting in feeding or deterring predators and parasites. ''Planctosphaera pelagica'' larvae are also larger than enteropneust larvae. It is due to the mucus glands and size difference they are usually given their own class. References Animal genera Monotypic animal genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planctosphaeroidea
''Planctosphaera pelagica'' is a hemichordate and the only known representative of the class Planctosphaeroidea. The species is known only by its free swimming larvae. The larvae are tornaria larvae similar to those of the closely related Enteropneusta The acorn worms or Enteropneusta are a hemichordate class of invertebrates consisting of one order of the same name. The closest non-hemichordate relatives of the Enteropneusta are the echinoderms. There are 111 known species of acorn worm in the ..., which possess a ciliated band to capture food particles. ''Planctosphaera pelagica'' is unique in possessing mucus secreting glands around the ciliated band. Possible uses of the mucus glands include assisting in feeding or deterring predators and parasites. ''Planctosphaera pelagica'' larvae are also larger than enteropneust larvae. It is due to the mucus glands and size difference they are usually given their own class. References Animal genera Monotypic animal genera { ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterobranchia
Pterobranchia is a class of small worm-shaped animals. They belong to the Hemichordata, and live in secreted tubes on the ocean floor. Pterobranchia feed by filtering plankton out of the water with the help of cilia attached to tentacles. There are about 25 known living pterobranch species in three genera, which are ''Rhabdopleura'', '' Cephalodiscus'', and '' Atubaria''. On the other hand, there are several hundred extinct genera, some of which date from the Cambrian Period. The class Pterobranchia was established by Ray Lankester in 1877. It contained, at that time, the single genus ''Rhabdopleura''. ''Rhabdopleura'' was at first regarded as an aberrant polyzoon, but when the ''Challenger'' report on '' Cephalodiscus'' was published in 1887, it became clear that ''Cephalodiscus'', the second genus now included in the order, had affinities with the Enteropneusta. Electron microscope studies have suggested that pterobranchs belong to the same clade as the extinct grapto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterobranchs
Pterobranchia is a class of small worm-shaped animals. They belong to the Hemichordata, and live in secreted tubes on the ocean floor. Pterobranchia feed by filtering plankton out of the water with the help of cilia attached to tentacles. There are about 25 known living pterobranch species in three genera, which are ''Rhabdopleura'', '' Cephalodiscus'', and '' Atubaria''. On the other hand, there are several hundred extinct genera, some of which date from the Cambrian Period. The class Pterobranchia was established by Ray Lankester in 1877. It contained, at that time, the single genus ''Rhabdopleura''. ''Rhabdopleura'' was at first regarded as an aberrant polyzoon, but when the ''Challenger'' report on '' Cephalodiscus'' was published in 1887, it became clear that ''Cephalodiscus'', the second genus now included in the order, had affinities with the Enteropneusta. Electron microscope studies have suggested that pterobranchs belong to the same clade as the extinct grapto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acorn Worm
The acorn worms or Enteropneusta are a Hemichordata, hemichordate class of invertebrates consisting of one order of the same name. The closest non-hemichordate relatives of the Enteropneusta are the echinoderms. There are 111 known species of acorn worm in the world, the main species for research being ''Saccoglossus kowalevskii''. Two families—Harrimaniidae and Ptychoderidae—separated at least 370 million years ago. Until recently, it was thought that all species Fauna (animals)#Infauna, lived in the sediment on the seabed, subsisting as deposit feeders or suspension feeders. However, the early 21st century has seen the description of a new family, the Torquaratoridae, evidently limited to the deep sea, in which most of the species crawl on the surface of the ocean bottom and alternatively rise into the water column, evidently to drift to new foraging sites. It is assumed that the ancestors of acorn worms used to live in tubes like their relatives Pterobranchia, but that they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harrimaniidae
Harrimaniidae is a basal family of acorn worms. A taxonomic revision was undertaken in 2010, and a number of new genera and species found in the Eastern Pacific were described. In this family the development is direct without tornaria larva, and circular muscle fibers in their trunk is missing. There is some indication that Stereobalanus may be a separate basal acorn worm lineage, sister to all remaining acorn worms. Species The following genera and species are listed in the World Register of Marine Species: . Retrieved October 17, 2011. *'' Harrimania [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhabdopleura
''Rhabdopleura'' is a genus of colonial sessile hemichordates belonging to the Pterobranchia class. As one of the oldest living genera with a fossil record dating back to the Middle Cambrian, it is also considered to be the only living genus of graptolites. ''Rhabdopleura'' is the best studied pterobranch in developmental biology. Research in the 2010s by Jörg Maletz and other paleontologists and biologists have demonstrated that ''Rhabdopleura'' is an extant graptolite. Species List of species from Maletz (2014): ;Living species The genus ''Rhabdopleura'' contains at least five living species. * ''Rhabdopleura annulata'' Norman 1921 — Indo-Pacific region * '' Rhabdopleura compacta'' Hincks 1880 — Atlantic * ''Rhabdopleura normani'' Allmann, 1869 — Atlantic and parts of the Pacific * ''Rhabdopleura recondita'' Beli, Cameron and Piraino, 2018 — Mediterranean * ''Rhabdopleura striata'' Schepotieff 1909 — Pacific (Sri Lanka) ;''Nomen dubium'' (doubtful) * ''Rhabdopleu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torquaratoridae
Torquaratoridae (Latin for "neck plow") is a family of acorn worms ( Hemichordata) that lives in deep waters between 350 to 4000 meters (the species Tergivelum baldwinae has been found 4100 meters below the surface). They can grow up to three feet in length and have semitransparent gelatinous bodies, often brightly colored. Cilia on their underside are used to glide over the ocean floor at about three inches per hour, while detritus is sucked into their gut, leaving behind a constant trail of feces. When deciding to move to new feeding locations, they empty their gut and drift over the bottom, aided by an excreted balloon of mucus, before they let themselves down somewhere else. One species (''Coleodesmium karaensis'') has been shown to care for the offspring by bearing about a dozen embryos surrounded by a thin membrane in shallow depressions on the surface of the mother's pharyngeal region. The proboscis skeleton is reduced to a small medial plate in one genus, while it is ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enteropneusta
The acorn worms or Enteropneusta are a hemichordate class of invertebrates consisting of one order of the same name. The closest non-hemichordate relatives of the Enteropneusta are the echinoderms. There are 111 known species of acorn worm in the world, the main species for research being '' Saccoglossus kowalevskii''. Two families—Harrimaniidae and Ptychoderidae—separated at least 370 million years ago. Until recently, it was thought that all species lived in the sediment on the seabed, subsisting as deposit feeders or suspension feeders. However, the early 21st century has seen the description of a new family, the Torquaratoridae, evidently limited to the deep sea, in which most of the species crawl on the surface of the ocean bottom and alternatively rise into the water column, evidently to drift to new foraging sites. It is assumed that the ancestors of acorn worms used to live in tubes like their relatives Pterobranchia, but that they eventually started to live a safer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bilaterally Symmetrical
Symmetry in biology refers to the symmetry observed in organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. External symmetry can be easily seen by just looking at an organism. For example, take the face of a human being which has a plane of symmetry down its centre, or a pine cone with a clear symmetrical spiral pattern. Internal features can also show symmetry, for example the tubes in the human body (responsible for transporting gases, nutrients, and waste products) which are cylindrical and have several planes of symmetry. Biological symmetry can be thought of as a balanced distribution of duplicate body parts or shapes within the body of an organism. Importantly, unlike in mathematics, symmetry in biology is always approximate. For example, plant leaves – while considered symmetrical – rarely match up exactly when folded in half. Symmetry is one class of patterns in nature whereby there is near-repetition of the pattern element, either by reflection or rotation. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylum (biology)
In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants accepts the terms as equivalent. Depending on definitions, the animal kingdom Animalia contains about 31 phyla, the plant kingdom Plantae contains about 14 phyla, and the fungus kingdom Fungi contains about 8 phyla. Current research in phylogenetics is uncovering the relationships between phyla, which are contained in larger clades, like Ecdysozoa and Embryophyta. General description The term phylum was coined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel from the Greek (, "race, stock"), related to (, "tribe, clan"). Haeckel noted that species constantly evolved into new species that seemed to retain few consistent features among themselves and therefore few features that distinguished them as a group ("a self-contained uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notochord
In anatomy, the notochord is a flexible rod which is similar in structure to the stiffer cartilage. If a species has a notochord at any stage of its life cycle (along with 4 other features), it is, by definition, a chordate. The notochord consists of inner, vacuolated cells covered by fibrous and elastic sheaths, lies along the anteroposterior axis (''front to back''), is usually closer to the dorsal than the ventral surface of the embryo, and is composed of cells derived from the mesoderm. The most commonly cited functions of the notochord are: as a midline tissue that provides directional signals to surrounding tissue during development, as a skeletal (structural) element, and as a vertebral precursor. In lancelets the notochord persists throughout life as the main structural support of the body. In tunicates the notochord is present only in the larval stage, being completely absent in the adult animal. In these invertebrate chordates, the notochord is not vacuolated. In all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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