Rhabdopleurida

Rhabdopleurida is one of three orders in the class Pterobranchia, which are small, worm-shaped animals, are the only surviving graptolites. Members belong to the hemichordates. Species in this order are sessile, colonial, connected with a stolon, living in clear water and secrete tubes called tubarium. They have a single gonad, the gill slits are absent and the collar has two tentaculated arms. ''Rhabdopleura'' is the best studied pterobranch in developmental biology. ''Rhabdopleura'' is the only extant
graptolite.

Taxonomy

This small order is monotypic. It has only a single extant genus, containing four to six living species.

Order Rhabdopleurida Fowler 1892
* Family Rhabdopleuridae Harmer 1905
** Genus ''Rhabdopleura'' Allman 1869
*** ''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'':
* ''Rhabdopleura grimaldi'' Julien 1890 nomen dubium
* ''Rhabdopleura manubialis'' Jullien & Calvet 1903 nomen dubium

Extinct species:
* †''Rhabdopleura delmari'' Mortelmans 1955
* †''Rhabdopleura graysoni'' Chapman, Durman & Rickards 1995
* †''Rhabdopleura hollandi'' Rickards, Chapman & Temple 1984
* †''Rhabdopleura kozlowskii'' Kulicki 1969
* †''Rhabdopleura obuti'' Durman & Sennikov 1993
* †''Rhabdopleura sinica'' Chapman, Durman & Rickards 1995
* †''Rhabdopleura vistulae'' Kozlowski 1956

References

Marinespecies.org

ITIS.gov
* Hayward, P.J.; Ryland, J.S. (Ed.) (1990). The marine fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe: 1. Introduction and protozoans to arthropods. Clarendon Press: Oxford, UK. . 627 pp.

Hemichordates
Deuterostome orders

{{hemichordate-stub