Dolioletta

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Dolioletta
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Tunicata
Class: Thaliacea
Order: Doliolida
Family: Doliolidae
Genus:Dolioletta
Borgert, 1894 [1]
Species

See text

Dolioletta is a genus of tunicates in the family Doliolidae.

A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

Tunicate Subphylum of chordates

A tunicate is a marine invertebrate animal, a member of the subphylum Tunicata. It is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords. The subphylum was at one time called Urochordata, and the term urochordates is still sometimes used for these animals. They are the only chordates that have lost their myomeric segmentation, with the possible exception of the seriation of the gill slits.

<i>Doliolidae</i> family of chordates

Doliolidae is a family of tunicates in the order Doliolida. Members of the family are pelagic and often found far away from coastlines.

Contents

Characteristics

Members of the genus Dolioletta are transparent, gelatinous barrel-shaped animals, usually less than one centimetre long. They move in jerks by contracting the circular bands of muscle in their body wall sharply. [2]

Biology

They have the complex life cycle typical of the doliolids, with alternating sexual and asexual phases. They use a net of mucus strands to efficiently trap phytoplankton floating past. They both grow fast and multiply rapidly and a single animal is capable of forming thousands of new individuals in a few days. They sometimes form dense swarms with up to 500 individuals per square metre. [2]

Phytoplankton Autotrophic members of the plankton ecosystem

Phytoplankton are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of oceans, seas and freshwater basin ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning "plant", and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. However, when present in high enough numbers, some varieties may be noticeable as colored patches on the water surface due to the presence of chlorophyll within their cells and accessory pigments in some species.

Species

The World Register of Marine Species lists the following species: [1]

Dolioletta gegenbauri is a species of tunicate in the family Doliolidae. It is small, exists in various forms and is sometimes found in great abundance in the Atlantic and Pacific waters where it lives.

Dolioletta mirabilis is a species of tunicate in the family Doliolidae. It is small, exists in various forms and is sometimes found in great abundance in the Indo-Pacific waters where it lives.

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Salp family of marine animals in the subphylum Tunicata

A salp or salpa is a barrel-shaped, planktonic tunicate. It moves by contracting, thus pumping water through its gelatinous body, one of the most efficient examples of jet propulsion in the animal kingdom. The salp strains the pumped water through its internal feeding filters, feeding on phytoplankton.

Corallimorpharia order of cnidarians

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<i>Pyramidella</i> genus of molluscs

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Bonellitia is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cancellariidae, the nutmeg snails.

<i>Turris</i> genus of molluscs

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<i>Cacozeliana</i> genus of molluscs

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<i>Mesalia</i> genus of molluscs

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<i>Doliolum</i> genus of chordates

Doliolum is a genus of tunicates, the members of which move via jet propulsion. A detailed description can be found at Godeaux, J. E. A. (1998). "On the anatomical structure of the trophozooid of Doliolum denticulatum". Marine Biology. 131: 41–44. doi:10.1007/s002270050294..

<i>Pyrosoma atlanticum</i> species of chordates

Pyrosoma atlanticum is a pelagic species of marine colonial tunicate in the class Thaliacea found in temperate waters worldwide. The name of the genus comes from the Greek words pyros meaning 'fire' and soma meaning 'body', referring to the bright bioluminescence sometimes emitted. The specific epithet atlanticum refers to the Atlantic Ocean, from where the first specimen of the species was collected for scientific description; it was described in 1804 by François Péron, a French naturalist.

Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera Taxonomic database

The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG) is a taxonomic database containing the scientific names of the genus, species, and higher ranks of many plants, animals and other kingdoms, both living and extinct, within a standardized taxonomic hierarchy, with associated machine-readable information on habitat and extant/fossil status for the majority of entries. The database aspires to provide complete coverage of both accepted and unaccepted genus names across all kingdoms, with a subset only of species names included as a lower priority. In its March 2019 release, IRMNG contained 490,095 genus names, of which 236,514 were listed as "accepted", 120,194 "unaccepted", 7,391 of "other" status i.e. interim unpublished, nomen dubium, nomen nudum, taxon inquirendum or temporary name, and 125,996 as "uncertain". The data originate from a range of print, online and database sources, and are reorganised into a common data structure to support a variety of online queries, generation of individual taxon pages, and bulk data supply to other biodiversity informatics projects. IRMNG content can be queried and displayed freely via the web, and download files of the data down to the taxonomic rank of genus as at specific dates are available in the Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) format. The data include homonyms, including both available and selected unavailable names.

References

  1. 1 2 Dolioletta Borgert, 1894 World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  2. 1 2 Dolioletta Archived May 17, 2014, at the Wayback Machine . JelliesZone. Retrieved 2011-11-17.


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