Tantulocarida

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Tantulocarida
Microdajus sp.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Superclass: Multicrustacea
Class: Tantulocarida
G. A. Boxshall & R. J. Lincoln, 1983 [1]
Families

Tantulocarida is a highly specialised group of parasitic crustaceans that consists of about 33 species, treated as a class in superclass Multicrustacea. They are typically ectoparasites that infest copepods, isopods, tanaids, amphipods and ostracods.[2][3]

Description[edit]

Eyes are completely absent.[4]

The tantulus larvae has a head with a ventral oral disc but no appendages, a six-segmented thorax with six pairs of legs, and a limbless abdomen consisting of one to six segments in addition to a telson.[5]

Body length[edit]

Members of this subclass are minute – less than 0.3 millimetres (0.012 in) in length and have a dramatic reduction in body form compared to other crustaceans, with an unsegmented, sac-like thorax and a much reduced abdomen.[6] One tantulocarid species, Tantulacus dieteri, is the world's smallest arthropod, with a total body length of only 85 micrometres (0.0033 in).[7]

Life cycle[edit]

The tantulocarid life cycle is unique among crustaceans. The tantulus larva transforms directly from a non-feeding (lecithotrophic) and free-swimming organism into a parasite without any instars. When entering the parasitic stage much of the body, such as the muscles, degenerates, even if the body itself becomes bigger. As a parasite it is permanently attached to its host, and after piercing its host's cuticle with an unpaired stylet, a rootlet system used to absorb nutrients enters through the hole and grow into the host’s tissue. The adult form developes inside the larva, and can become either a sac-like parthenogenetic female, or a fully developed free-living, non-feeding and sexually-reproducing male or female.[8][9][10][11][12] The eggs inside the parthenogenetic female are eventually released as fully developed tantulus larvae. The finding of what appears to be a benthic non-feeding nauplius larva suggests that eggs produced by sexual females hatch as nauplii instead of tantulus larvae. Both the parthenogenetic and sexual females are semelparous.[13]

Classification[edit]

Five families are recognised:[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Tantulocarida". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Tantulocarida". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  3. ^ Geoffrey A. Boxshall & Roger J. Lincoln (February 1983). "Tantulocarida, a new class of Crustacea ectoparasitic on other crustaceans". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 3 (1): 1–16. doi:10.2307/1547849. JSTOR 1547849.
  4. ^ Oakley, T. H.; Cunningham, C. W. (2002). "Molecular phylogenetic evidence for the independent evolutionary origin of an arthropod compound eye". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99 (3): 1426–1430. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99.1426O. doi:10.1073/pnas.032483599. PMC 122207. PMID 11818548.
  5. ^ Multicellular Animals: Volume II: The Phylogenetic System of the Metazoa
  6. ^ "Tantulocarida". AccessScience Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill. Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
  7. ^ Inga Mohrbeck, Pedro Martínez Arbizu & Thomas Glatzel (October 2010). "Tantulocarida (Crustacea) from the Southern Ocean deep sea, and the description of three new species of Tantulacus Huys, Andersen & Kristensen, 1992". Systematic Parasitology. 77 (2): 131–151. doi:10.1007/s11230-010-9260-0. PMID 20852984. S2CID 7325858.
  8. ^ G. A. Boxshall & R. J. Lincoln (June 11, 1987). "The life cycle of the Tantulocarida (Crustacea)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 315 (1173): 267–303. doi:10.1098/rstb.1987.0009. JSTOR 2396610.
  9. ^ Anatomy of the free tantulus larva (Crustacea: Tantulocarida) studied with confocal laser scanning microscopy: An extreme case of miniatuarisation in the Arthropoda
  10. ^ Itoitantulus misophricola gen. et sp. nov.: First Record of Tantulocarida (Crustacea: Maxillopoda) in the North Pacific Region
  11. ^ Tantulocaridan Life Cycle: the Circle Closed? - Oxford Academic
  12. ^ Anatomy of the Tantulocarida: first results obtained using TEM and CLSM. Part I: tantulus larva - GfBS
  13. ^ Atlas of Crustacean Larvae
  14. ^ WoRMS. "Tantulocarida". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  15. ^ Geoff Boxshall (August 20, 2008). T. Chad Walter & Geoff Boxshall (ed.). "Basipodellidae". World Copepoda database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
  16. ^ Geoff Boxshall (August 20, 2008). T. Chad Walter & Geoff Boxshall (ed.). "Doryphallophoridae". World Copepoda database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
  17. ^ Geoff Boxshall (August 20, 2008). T. Chad Walter & Geoff Boxshall (ed.). "Microdajidae". World Copepoda database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
  18. ^ WoRMS. "Cumoniscidae Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis, 1923". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  19. ^ Geoff Boxshall (2012). Walter TC, Boxshall G (eds.). "Onceroxenidae". World of Copepods database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2016-09-10.

External links[edit]