| Pliciloricus | |
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| Pliciloricus enigmaticus Higgins & Kristensen, 1986. | |
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| Family: | Pliciloricidae |
| Genera | |
4 genera, see text | |
Pliciloricidae are a family of marine organisms in the phylum Loricifera. It contains 23 species in 4 genera. [2] [3]
Loricifera is a phylum of very small to microscopic marine cycloneuralian sediment-dwelling animals with 37 described species, in nine genera. 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, in 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.
Ecdysozoa is a group of protostome animals, including Arthropoda, Nematoda, and several smaller phyla. They were first defined by Aguinaldo et al. in 1997, based mainly on phylogenetic trees constructed using 18S ribosomal RNA genes. A large study in 2008 by Dunn et al. strongly supported the Ecdysozoa as a clade, that is, a group consisting of a common ancestor and all its descendants.
Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen is a Danish invertebrate biologist, noted for the discovery of three new phyla of microscopic animals: the Loricifera in 1983, the Cycliophora in 1995, and the Micrognathozoa in 2000. He is also considered one of the world's leading experts on tardigrades. His recent field of work revolves mostly around arctic biology.
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.
Protostomia is a clade of animals containing phyla including the arthropods, annelids, and molluscs. Together with the deuterostomes and xenacoelomorpha, its members make up the Bilateria, mostly comprising animals with bilateral symmetry and three germ layers. The major distinctions between deuterostomes and protostomes are found in embryonic development and is based on the embryological origins of the mouth and anus.
Spinoloricus cinziae is an animal species described in 2014 in the phylum Loricifera.
Australoricus oculatus is a species of Loricifera, a species of microscopic marine sediment-dwelling animals, in the family Nanaloricidae. It is the only described species in the genus Australoricus. It was discovered in sea caves off New South Wales in Australia.
Pliciloricus enigmaticus is a marine Loriciferan species of genus Pliciloricus described by Higgins & Kristensen 1986.
Pliciloricus is a genus of marine organisms Pliciloricidae family, the phylum Loricifera described by Higgins & Kristensen, 1986.
Rugiloricus is a genus of marine organisms of the phylum Loricifera and the family Pliciloricidae, described by Higgins & Kristensen in 1986.
Rugiloricus cauliculus is a species of marine animal of the phylum Loricifera and the family Pliciloricidae. The species was described by Higgins & Kristensen in 1986, however other sources such as OBIS indicate that discovery of the species occurred on 19 November 1983.
Titaniloricus is a genus of small marine animal in the phylum Loricifera. It contains a single species, Titaniloricus inexpectatovus, described by Gunnar Gad in 2005. It has been collected from the abyssal plain in Angolan waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Pliciloricus dubius is a marine Loriciferan species of genus Pliciloricus described by Higgins & Kristensen 1986.
Robert P. Higgins is an American systematic invertebrate zoologist and ecologist.
Urnaloricus is a genus of loriciferans, distinct enough to belong in its own family, Urnaloricidae. Adult specimens are unknown, and are not thought to form part of the animal's lifecycle.
Spinoloricus is a genus of nanaloricid loriciferans. Its type species is S. turbatio, described in 2007, and another species, native to completely anoxic environment, Spinoloricus cinziae, was described in 2014.
Jeanne Renaud-Mornant, Born Jeanne Renaud, Jeanne Renaud-Debyser before her second marriage was a French biologist specialising in meiofauna.
Renaudarctidae are a family of tardigrades. It was first described in 1984 by Reinhardt Kristensen and Robert P. Higgins, and named after biologist Jeanne Renaud-Mornant.
Paradoxipus orzeliscoides is a species of tardigrade. It is the only species in the genus Paradoxipus, part of the family Halechiniscidae and the subfamily Orzeliscinae. The species has been found in the coastal waters of the southeastern United States, in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. The genus and the species were named and described by Reinhardt Kristensen and Robert P. Higgins in 1989.
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.
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