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Loricifera is a phylum of very small to microscopic marine cycloneuralian sediment-dwelling animals that had been determined to be 37 described species, in nine genera, but in 2021 has increased to 43 species. Aside from these described species, there are approximately 100 more that have been collected and not yet described. Their sizes range from 100 μm to ca. 1 mm. They are characterised by a protective outer case called a lorica and their habitat is in the spaces between marine gravel to which they attach themselves. The phylum was discovered in 1983 by Reinhardt Kristensen, near Roscoff, France. They are among the most recently discovered groups of Metazoans. They attach themselves quite firmly to the substrate, and hence remained undiscovered for so long. The first specimen was collected in the 1970s, and later described in 1983. They are found at all depths, in different sediment types, and in all latitudes.
Priapulida, sometimes referred to as penis worms, is a phylum of unsegmented marine worms. The name of the phylum relates to the Greek god of fertility, because their general shape and their extensible spiny introvert (eversible) proboscis may recall the shape of a human penis. They live in the mud and in comparatively shallow waters up to 90 metres (300 ft) deep. Some species show a remarkable tolerance for hydrogen sulfide and anoxia. They can be quite abundant in some areas. In an Alaskan bay as many as 85 adult individuals of Priapulus caudatus per square meter has been recorded, while the density of its larvae can be as high as 58,000 per square meter.
Kinorhyncha is a phylum of small marine invertebrates that are widespread in mud or sand at all depths as part of the meiobenthos. They are also called mud dragons. Modern species are 1 mm or less, but Cambrian forms could reach 4 cm.
Scalidophora is a group of marine pseudocoelomate protostomes that was proposed on morphological grounds to unite three phyla: the Kinorhyncha, the Priapulida and the Loricifera. The three phyla have four characters in common — chitinous cuticle that is moulted, rings of scalids on the introvert, flosculi, and two rings of introvert retracts. However, the monophyly of the Scalidophora is not supported by molecular studies, where the position of the Loricifera was uncertain or as sister to the Panarthropoda. Both studies supported a reduced Scalidophora comprising the Kinorhyncha and Priapulida as sister phyla. Their closest relatives are the Panarthropoda, Nematoda and Nematomorpha; thus, they are placed in the group Ecdysozoa.
A tergum is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the base and posterior edge is called the apex or margin. A given tergum may be divided into hardened plates or sclerites commonly referred to as tergites.
Cyclorhagida is an order of kinorhynchs, which are small marine invertebrates.
Antygomonas is a genus of cyclorhagids. It is the only genus in the family Antygomonidae Adrianov & Malakhov, 1994. Species of Antygomonas are commonly referred to as "mud dragons."
Robert Price Higgins is an American systematic invertebrate zoologist and ecologist, specializing in the unusual taxa of kinorhynchs and tardigrades.
Echinoderes obtuspinosus is a species of mud dragons first found in coastal and subtidal locations around the Korean Peninsula and in the East China Sea.
Echinoderes microaperturus is a species of mud dragons first found in coastal and subtidal locations around the Korean Peninsula and in the East China Sea.
Echinoderes cernunnos is a species of mud dragons first found in coastal and subtidal locations around the Korean Peninsula and in the East China Sea.
Echinoderes aspinosus is a species of mud dragons first found in coastal and subtidal locations around the Korean Peninsula and in the East China Sea.
Homalorhagida is an order of kinorhynchs.
Echinoderidae is a family of kinorhynchs in the order Cyclorhagida.
Fissuroderes is a genus of kinorhynchs in the family Echinoderidae.
Meristoderes is a genus of kinorhynchs in the family Echinoderidae.
Polacanthoderes is a genus of kinorhynchs in the family Echinoderidae. It consists of one species, Polacanthoderes martinezi Sørensen, 2008.
Neocentrophyidae is a family of kinorhynchs in the order Homalorhagida.
Cateriidae is a family of kinorhynchs in the order Cyclorhagida. It consists of a single genus, Cateria Gerlach, 1956.
Echinoderes is a genus of mud dragons first described in 1863. It is the largest genus within class Kinorhyncha. It is a highly diverse genus, with member species that inhabit "most marine benthic substrates, on latitudes ranging from the Arctic to the tropics, and from the intertidal zone down to the deep sea." Species on the east coasts of North and South America have been extensively studied by Robert P. Higgins. Species in east Asia have been extensively studied by A. V. Adrianov.
References
- ↑ Adrianov, A. V. & Malakhov, V. V. (1999). Cephalorhynch worms (Cephalorhyncha) of the World Ocean. Moscow: KMK Scientific Press.
- ↑ Adrianov, A. V. (1989). The first report on Kinorhyncha of the Sea of Japan. Zoologichesky Zhurnal, 68(7), 17–27.
- ↑ Sørensen, M. V. (2008). A new kinorhynch genus from the Antarctic deep sea and a new species of Cephalorhyncha from Hawaii (Kinorhyncha: Cyclorhagida: Echinoderidae). Organisms, Diversity, and Evolution, 8(3), 230.
- ↑ Higgins, R. P. (1986). A new species of Echinoderes (Kinorhyncha: Cyclorhagida) from a coarse-sand California beach. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 105(3), 266–273.
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