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Bryozoa
Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary Colony (biology), colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles used for filter feeder, filter feeding. Most Marine (ocean), marine bryozoans live in tropical waters, but a few are found in oceanic trenches and polar waters. The bryozoans are classified as the Stenolaemata, marine bryozoans (Stenolaemata), Phylactolaemata, freshwater bryozoans (Phylactolaemata), and Gymnolaemata, mostly-marine bryozoans (Gymnolaemata), a few members of which prefer brackish water. 5,869living species are known. Originally all of the crown group Bryozoa were colonial, but as an adaptation to a mesopsammal (interstitial spaces in marine sand) life or to deep-sea habitats, secondarily solitary forms have since evolved. Solitary species have been described i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entoprocta
Entoprocta (), or Kamptozoa , is a phylum (biology), phylum of mostly Sessility (zoology), sessile aquatic animals, ranging from long. Mature individuals are goblet-shaped, on relatively long stalks. They have a "crown" of solid tentacles whose cilia generate water currents that filter feeder, draw food particles towards the mouth, and both the mouth and anus lie inside the "crown". The superficially similar Bryozoa (Ectoprocta) have the anus outside a "crown" of hollow tentacles. Most family (biology), families of entoprocts are colonial, and all but 2 of the 150 species are marine. A few solitary species can move slowly. Some species eject unfertilized ovum, ova into the water, while others keep their ova in brood chambers until they hatch, and some of these species use placenta-like organs to nourish the developing eggs. After hatching, the larvae swim for a short time and then settle on a surface. There they Metamorphosis, metamorphose, and the larval gut rotates by up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protomelission
''Protomelission'' is a Cambrian fossil taxon of contested affinity. It comprises cataphract arrays of box-like chambers, forming a club-shaped thallus surrounding a hollow central cavity. It was first described from phosphatized microfossils whose individual chambers were interpreted as housing the zooids of a non-mineralized bryozoan, which would make it the only affinity representative of that phylum – implying that all animal phyla originated in the Cambrian period. The subsequent discovery of articulated macrofossils from the Xiaoshiba biota called into question the biological nature of the distal apertures, showing that the surface was instead covered with leaf-like triangular flanges. This has led to the reinterpretation of the fossil material as a "seaweed", strictly as a dasycladalean green alga. History of description ''Protomelission'' was first described by Brock & Cooper in 1993 from limestones in Wirrealpa, Australia. A bryozoan affinity was dismissed o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stenolaemata
Stenolaemata are a class of exclusively marine bryozoans. Stenolaemates originated and diversified in the Ordovician, and more than 600 species are still alive today.Stenolaemata. The Digital Atlas of Ordovician Life. All extant (living) species are in the order , the third-largest order of living bryozoans.Ramalho, L. V., G. Muricy, and P. D. Taylor. (2009) Cyclostomata (Bryozoa, Stenolaemata) from Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. ''Zootaxa'' 2057 32–52. These animals are stationary [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheilostomata
Cheilostomatida, also called Cheilostomata, is an order of Bryozoa in the class Gymnolaemata. They are exclusively marine, colonial invertebrate animals. Cheilostome colonies are composed of calcium carbonate and grow on a variety of surfaces, including rocks, shells, seagrass and kelps. The colony shapes range from simple encrusting sheets to erect branching and even unattached forms. As in other bryozoan groups, each colony is composed of a few to thousands of individual polypides. Each individual has a U-shaped gut, and no respiratory or circulatory system. Unique among bryozoans, cheilostome polypides are housed in a box-shaped zooids, which do not grow larger once the zooid is mature. The opening through which the polypide protrudes is protected by a calcareous or chitinous lidlike structure, an operculum. Cheilostomes possess avicularia, which have modified the operculum into a range of mandibles (possibly for defense) or hair-like setae (possibly for cleaning). T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylactolaemata
Phylactolaemata is a class of the phylum Bryozoa whose members live only in freshwater environments. Like all bryozoans, they filter feed by means of an extensible "crown" of ciliated tentacles called a lophophore, and like nearly all bryozoans (the only known exception being ''Monobryozoon''), they live in colonies, each of which consists of clones of the founding member. Unlike those of some marine bryozoans, phylactolaemate colonies consist of only one type of zooid, the feeding forms known as autozooids. These are supported by an unmineralized "exoskeleton" made of gelatinous material or protein, secreted by the zooids. The class contains only one extant order, Plumatellida. Fossil record Phylactolaemata is regarded to have been the earliest group of bryozoans to evolve. However, because they did not have calcified skeletons, these early bryozoans would have had very low potential to fossilize. Fossils of phylactolaemate statoblasts, which consist of protective chitinous sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zooid
A zooid or zoöid is an animal that is part of a colonial animal. This lifestyle has been adopted by animals from separate unrelated taxa. Zooids are multicellular; their structure is similar to that of other solitary animals. The zooids can either be directly connected by tissue (e.g. corals, Catenulida, Siphonophorae, Pyrosome or Ectoprocta) or share a common exoskeleton (e.g. Bryozoa or Pterobranchia). The colonial organism as a whole is called a ''zoon'' , plural ''zoa'' (from Ancient Greek meaning animal; plural , ). Zooids can exhibit polymorphism. For instance, extant bryozoans may have zooids adapted for different functions, such as feeding, anchoring the colony to the substratum and for brooding embryos. However, fossil bryozoans are only known by the colony structures that the zooids formed during life. There are correlations between the size of some zooids and temperature. Variations in zooid size within colonies of fossils can be used as an indicator of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pywackia
''Pywackia'' is a contentious Cambrian fossil that has been interpreted as the earliest (total group) Bryozoan, and the only representative of that phylum in the Cambrian period. Its Bryozoan credentials have been called into question, but the octocoral alternative is equally unconvincing, and there are reasons to suggest a position in the Stenolaemata Stenolaemata are a class of exclusively marine bryozoans. Stenolaemates originated and diversified in the Ordovician, and more than 600 species are still alive today.Fossils of Mexico [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monobryozoon
''Monobryozoon'' is a genus of bryozoans belonging to the family Monobryozoidae. The species of this genus are found in Northern Europe. These species, as their name suggests, are unique in the Bryozoan phylum, as they are single organisms, rather than colonies. (Monobryozoon is Greek for "Alone Moss Animal") They are considered almost mythical among scientists as they are very rare. As of 2024 the species ''M. ambulans'' had only been discovered three different times. (First in 1900 by Adolf Remane, second in 1936, latest in 2022) Species ''M. bulbosum'' was found once in 1972, and the last species, ''M. sandersi'', was reported in 1981, but has yet to be confirmed, and remains unsubstantiated. Species: *''Monobryozoon ambulans'' *''Monobryozoon bulbosum'' *''Monobryozoon sandersi'' References {{Taxonbar, from=Q4187623 Bryozoan genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polypide
The polypide in bryozoans encompasses most of the organs and tissues of each individual zooid. This includes the tentacles, tentacle sheath, U-shaped digestive tract, musculature and nerve cells. It is housed in the zooidal exoskeleton, which in cyclostomes is tubular and in cheilostomes is box-shaped. Polypides can undergo cycles of regression and regeneration, in which the zooid forms a new polypide as the old one accumulates waste and dies. See also Bryozoan Anatomy References Bryozoology Protostome anatomy {{bryozoan-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lophophore
The lophophore () is a characteristic feeding organ possessed by four major groups of animals: the Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Hyolitha, and Phoronida, which collectively constitute the protostome group Lophophorata.Introduction to the Lophotrochozoa – Retrieved 3 May 2010 All lophophores are found in aquatic organisms. Etymology ''Lophophore'' is derived from the Greek ''lophos'' (crest, tuft) and ''-phore'', ''-phoros'' (φορος) (bearing), a derivative of ''phérein'' (φέρειν) (to bear); thus crest-bearing.Characteristics The lophophore can most easily be described as a ring of ted tentacles surrounding the mouth, but it is often horseshoe-shap ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biomineralization
Biomineralization, also written biomineralisation, is the process by which living organisms produce minerals, often resulting in hardened or stiffened '' mineralized tissues''. It is an extremely widespread phenomenon: all six taxonomic kingdoms contain members that can form minerals, and over 60 different minerals have been identified in organisms. Examples include silicates in algae and diatoms, carbonates in invertebrates, and calcium phosphates and carbonates in vertebrates. These minerals often form structural features such as sea shells and the bone in mammals and birds. Organisms have been producing mineralized skeletons for the past 550 million years. Calcium carbonates and calcium phosphates are usually crystalline, but silica organisms (such as sponges and diatoms) are always non-crystalline minerals. Other examples include copper, iron, and gold deposits involving bacteria. Biologically formed minerals often have special uses such as magnetic sensors in magnetota ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gymnolaemata
Gymnolaemata are a class of Bryozoans. Gymnolaemata are sessile, mostly marine organisms and grow on the surfaces of rocks, kelp, and in some cases on animals, like fish. Zooids are cylindrical or flattened. The lophophore is protruded by action of muscles pulling on the frontal wall. This order includes the majority of living bryozoan species. Orders Source: * Cheilostomata Cheilostomatida, also called Cheilostomata, is an order of Bryozoa in the class Gymnolaemata. They are exclusively marine, colonial invertebrate animals. Cheilostome colonies are composed of calcium carbonate and grow on a variety of surfaces, ... Busk, 1852 * Ctenostomatida Busk, 1852 External links * * References Protostome classes {{Bryozoan-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
