Triops cancriformis

Last updated

Triops cancriformis
Triops cancriformis2.jpg
Triops cancriformis Nauplien
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Branchiopoda
Order: Notostraca
Family: Triopsidae
Genus: Triops
Species:
T. cancriformis
Binomial name
Triops cancriformis
(Bosc, 1801)  [1]
Triops cancriformis distribution map.svg
The rough range of Triops cancriformis

Triops cancriformis, European tadpole shrimp or tadpole shrimp is a species of tadpole shrimp found in Europe to the Middle East and India. [2]

Contents

Due to habitat destruction, many populations have recently been lost across its European range, so, the species is considered endangered in the United Kingdom and in several European countries. [2] In captivity they commonly grow up to 6 centimetres (2.4 in); in the wild they can achieve sizes of 11 cm (4.3 in). [2]

In the UK, there are just two known populations: in a pool and adjacent area in the Caerlaverock Wetlands in Scotland, and a temporary pond in the New Forest. [3] The species is legally protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). [4]

In the past, fossils from the Lower Triassic of France and Upper Triassic of Germany have been attributed to this species, with some even described as specimens of the subspecies T. c. minor, but later research reassigned all of these Triassic specimens to different extinct taxa of uncertain taxonomic family: the notostracan Apudites antiquus and the diplostracans Olesenocaris galli and Grauvogelocaris alsatica. [5] The putative Lower Permian subspecies from France has also been redescribed as a separate notostracan taxon, Heidiops permiensis. [6] Genetic evidence indicates that T. cancriformis only diverged from other Triops species around 23.7–49.6 million years ago. [7]

Life cycle

Triops cancriformis has a very fast life cycle, and individuals become mature in about two weeks after hatching. Their populations can be gonochoric, hermaphroditic or androdioecious. The latter is a very rare reproductive mode in animals, in which populations are made of hermaphrodites, with a small proportion of males. Due to this lack of males, early researchers thought Triops were parthenogenetic. The presence of testicular lobes scattered amongst their ovaries confirmed they were in fact hermaphroditic. Fertilized females or hermaphrodites produce diapausing eggs or cysts, able to survive decades in the sediment of the ponds and lakes they inhabit. These eggs are resistant to drought and temperature extremes.

Taxonomic history

In 1801, Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc made the first officially recognised species description of Triops cancriformis. [8] He named this species Apus cancriformis. Other authors used the name Apus cancriformis over the years but often with the wrong original author of this name. [8] The genus name Apus was pre-occupied by a genus of birds (described in 1777), rendering the name invalid for the tadpole shrimp.

In 1909, Ludwig Keilhack used the correct name "Triops cancriformis (Bosc)" in a field identification key of the freshwater fauna of Germany. He took up the genus name proposed by Schrank and suggested that the genus name Apus be replaced with Triops Schrank since Apus had been used since 1777 as the genus name of some birds (commonly known as swifts). However, other authors disagreed with him and the controversy continued until the 1950s. [9]

In 1955, Alan Longhurst provided the original author of T. cancriformis as "Triops cancriformis (Bosc, 1801)" with a full history of synonymy to support it. [10] This was in a taxonomic review of the Notostraca that also supported using the genus name Triops instead of Apus. In 1958, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) recognised the name Triops cancriformis (Bosc, 1801–1802) (ICZN name no. 1476) as officially the oldest. They also recognised the genus name Triops Schrank instead of Apus. They followed Longhurst in these decisions. [8]

Human uses

Triops cancriformis Beni-Kabuto Ebi Albino feeding on a piece of rehydrated dried shrimp, ultra closeup showing how transparent the carapace is. Beni-KabutoEbiAlbino1.jpg
Triops cancriformis Beni-Kabuto Ebi Albino feeding on a piece of rehydrated dried shrimp, ultra closeup showing how transparent the carapace is.

Although members of the genus Triops usually have no economic importance, the Beni-kabuto ebi albino variant of Triops cancriformis has been used to control mosquitoes and weeds in Asian rice fields.

Triops cancriformis is the second most common species raised by hobbyists next to Triops longicaudatus . They are particularly valued for their lower hatching temperature and somewhat longer lifespan as well as potentially larger size.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branchiopoda</span> Class of crustaceans

Branchiopoda is a class of crustaceans. It comprises fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, Diplostraca, Notostraca, the Devonian Lepidocaris and possibly the Cambrian Rehbachiella. They are mostly small, freshwater animals that feed on plankton and detritus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Code of Zoological Nomenclature</span> Code of scientific nomenclature for animals

The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The rules principally regulate:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holotype</span> Example of an organism used to describe its species

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several examples, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and ICZN, the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type (biology)</span> Specimen(s) to which a scientific name is formally attached

In biology, a type is a particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the defining features of that particular taxon. In older usage, a type was a taxon rather than a specimen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Notostraca</span> Order of small freshwater animals

The order Notostraca, containing the single family Triopsidae, is a group of crustaceans known as tadpole shrimp or shield shrimp. The two genera, Triops and Lepidurus, are considered living fossils, with similar forms having existed since the end of the Devonian, around 360 million years ago. They have a broad, flat carapace, which conceals the head and bears a single pair of compound eyes. The abdomen is long, appears to be segmented and bears numerous pairs of flattened legs. The telson is flanked by a pair of long, thin caudal rami. Phenotypic plasticity within taxa makes species-level identification difficult, and is further compounded by variation in the mode of reproduction. Notostracans are omnivores living on the bottom of temporary pools and shallow lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clam shrimp</span> Suborder of arthropods

Clam shrimp are a group of bivalved branchiopod crustaceans that resemble the unrelated bivalved molluscs. They are extant and also known from the fossil record, from at least the Devonian period and perhaps before. They were originally classified in the former order Conchostraca, which later proved to be paraphyletic, because water fleas are nested within clam shrimps. Clam shrimp are now divided into three orders, Cyclestherida, Laevicaudata, and Spinicaudata, in addition to the fossil family Leaiidae.

<i>Triops</i> Genus of small crustaceans

Triops is a genus of small crustaceans in the order Notostraca. The long-lasting resting eggs of several species of Triops are commonly sold in kits as pets. The animals hatch upon contact with fresh water. Most adult-stage Triops have a life expectancy of up to 90 days and can tolerate a pH range of 6 to 10. In nature, they often inhabit temporary pools.

<i>Apus</i> (bird) Genus of birds

The bird genus Apus comprise some of the Old World members of the family Apodidae, commonly known as swifts.

The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently.

<i>Triops longicaudatus</i> Species of small freshwater animal

Triops longicaudatus is a freshwater crustacean of the order Notostraca, resembling a miniature horseshoe crab. It is characterized by an elongated, segmented body, a flattened shield-like brownish carapace covering two thirds of the thorax, and two long filaments on the abdomen. The genus name Triops comes from Greek ὤψ or ṓps, meaning "eye" prefixed with Latin tri-, "three", in reference to its three eyes. Longicaudatus is a Latin neologism combining longus ("long") and caudatus ("tailed"), referring to its long tail structures. Triops longicaudatus is found in fresh water ponds and pools, often in places where few higher forms of life can exist.

<i>Lepidurus</i> Genus of tadpole shrimp

Lepidurus is a genus of small crustaceans in the order Notostraca. It is the larger of the two extant genera of the tadpole shrimps, the other being Triops. They are commonly found in vernal pools and survive dry periods with the help of long lasting resting eggs.

<i>Campylocephalus</i> Extinct genus of arthropods

Campylocephalus is a genus of eurypterid, a group of extinct aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Campylocephalus have been discovered in deposits ranging from the Carboniferous period in the Czech Republic to the Permian period of Russia. The generic name is composed of the Greek words καμπύλος (kampýlos), meaning "curved", and κεφαλή (kephalē), meaning "head".

<i>Diplurus</i> Extinct genus of coelacanths

Diplurus is a genus of prehistoric mawsoniid coelacanth fish which lived during the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic period in North America. The fossils of this genus are common on the eastern North American Margin, being a key taxon of the Newark Supergroup, and recovered from units such as the Bull Run Formation, Lockatong Formation, Stockton Formation, Solite Quarry, Midland Formation, East Berlin Formation, Boonton Formation and the Portland Formation. Three species are know, the type D. longicaudatus, the youngest and biggest, D. newarki, the oldest, followed then by "D. uddeni" (Eastman), also from older rocks and considered dubious. A recent work has recovered a 3rd or 4th species, D. enigmaticus, from the Late Triassic of New Jersey, representing another small-bodied form living in sympatry with the similarly sized D. newarki. This genus ranges in size from 15 cm of D. newarki and D. enigmaticus in New Jersey to the larger 60 cm specimens of Diplurus longicaudatus found in the Connecticut River Valley, which indicates a considerable growth and likely a change in the ecological position of the genus to a possible apex predatory niche.

<i>Triops australiensis</i> Species of small freshwater animal

Triops australiensis, sometimes referred to as a shield shrimp, is an Australian species of the tadpole shrimp Triops.

Rioarribasuchus is a genus of aetosaur. Fossils have been found from the Chinle Formation in Arizona and New Mexico that date back to the upper Late Carnian stage of the Late Triassic.

<i>Lepidurus apus</i> Species of small freshwater animal

Lepidurus apus, commonly known as a tadpole shrimp, is a notostracan in the family Triopsidae, one of a lineage of shrimp-like crustaceans that have had a similar form since the Triassic period and are considered living fossils. This species is cosmopolitan, inhabiting temporary freshwater ponds over much of the world, and the most widespread of the tadpole shrimps. Like other notostracans, L. apus has a broad carapace, long segmented abdomen, and large numbers of paddle-like legs. It reproduces by a mixture of sexual reproduction and self-fertilisation of females.

References

  1. "Triops cancriformis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. 1 2 3 "Tadpole shrimp - Triops cancriformis". ARKive. Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  3. "Triops, the 300 million year-old living fossil". Planet Earth online. 22 December 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-07-05. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  4. "Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981". Legislation.gov.uk.
  5. Geyer, Gerd; Hegna, Thomas A.; Kelber, Klaus-Peter (2024). "The end of the 'living fossil' tale? A new look at Triassic specimens assigned to the tadpole shrimp Triops cancriformis (Notostraca) and associated phyllopods from the Vosges region (eastern France)". Papers in Paleontology. 10 (5). e1589. doi:10.1002/spp2.1589.
  6. Werneburg, R.; Schneider, J. W. (2023). "New branchiopod crustaceans from the late Carboniferous and early Permian of the Thuringian Forest Basin, Germany, with a review of Permian notostracans from the Lodève basin, France". Semana. 37: 57–103.
  7. Korn, Michael; Rabet, Nicolas; Ghate, Hemant V.; Marrone, Federico; Hundsdoerfer, Anna K. (December 2013). "Molecular phylogeny of the Notostraca". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 69 (3): 1159–1171. Bibcode:2013MolPE..69.1159K. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.08.006. hdl: 10447/83883 . PMID   23973879.
  8. 1 2 3 Ole S. Møller, Jørgen Olesen & Jens T. Høeg (2003). "SEM studies on the early larval development of Triops cancriformis (Bosc) (Crustacea: Branchiopoda, Notostraca)" (PDF). Acta Zoologica . 84 (4): 267–284. doi:10.1046/j.1463-6395.2003.00146.x.
  9. Hemming, Francis, ed. (1958). "Opinion 502". Opinions and Declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Vol. 18. London: International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. pp. 65–120.
  10. Alan R. Longhurst (1955). "A review of the Notostraca". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) . 3 (1): 1–57. doi: 10.5962/bhl.part.4119 .