Spring gill foot
| Spring gill foot | ||||||||||
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Spring gill foot (postmetanauplius stage) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Eubranchipus grubii | ||||||||||
| ( Dybowski , 1860) |
The spring gill foot or spring fairy shrimp ( Eubranchipus grubii ) belongs to the order of the gill pods ( Anostraca ). It lives in the lowlands of Eastern , Central and Northern Europe mainly in water bodies and forest pools. Because of its peculiar appearance and the possibility of surviving in a cyst for many years and only hatching when the conditions are favorable, it is often referred to as "tadpole shrimp ( Artemia salina )" and is kept in the aquarium .
features
The spring gill foot , like all Anostraca with the exception of the Polyartemiidae, has eleven pairs of leaf feet (phyllopodia), which are mainly supported by the internal pressure of the body fluid and less by the exoskeleton . These leaf-shaped limbs are not only used for locomotion, but also for breathing, which has led to the name " gill foot". A food channel runs between the gill feet.
The spring gill foot is colored unspecifically, sometimes orange to reddish-brown and can have greenish to blue colorations on the joints and on the borders of the segments. The complex eyes are petiolate.
Both sexes have a pair of thread-like, relatively short first antennae. The second antennae are shaped differently in the males and the females. The males have lobed appendages that can be rolled up. Adult females can be recognized by the sacs on the abdomen, which are filled with eggs. The forked furca at the end of the abdomen is translucent light in the females.
A reliable determination of the species is only possible in the male sex and is difficult, the key of Brtek and Mura can be used for the determination. The Engelmann key can be used to determine the few species that occur in Germany. The characteristics of the family Chirocephalidae include: The genital segments of the male are noticeably swollen on the sides and abdomen, they are longer than wide. Bubble-shaped seminal vesicles (vesiculae seminales) are formed. For the determination of the species important features are: The tip of the soft, retractable part of the copulation organs (penes) is drawn out into a long, strongly sclerotized tip. The apophyses on the ventral side of the basal antenna segments are fused in the male, resulting in a heavily sclerotized process. The penultimate trunk segment in the female has heavily sclerotized lateral outgrowths.
distribution and habitat
The spring gill foot occurs in Europe in France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Switzerland.
The species predominantly inhabits small, temporary bodies of water such as flood troughs and floodpumps as well as alluvial forest ponds in the floodplains . Water-filled depressions and ditches, especially in deciduous and mixed forests, are also part of their habitat; the crab is rarely found in open meadow pools.
Way of life
In early spring, often as early as January or February under the ice of the waters, the nauplius larvae hatch from the cysts , where they can survive dry and cold periods. Depending on the water level, the time of hatching can extend into May. The larvae grow up quickly and can reach sexual maturity after up to 40 moults in one to two weeks. Shortly before and during mating, the males hold the females with their jaws. After mating, the eggs develop in the egg sacs on the females' abdomen. They fall to the bottom of the water and can survive several years of drought in the substrate. In case of flooding by flood or penetration of seepage , a new generation developed. The permanent cysts can move to other parts of a river system as a result of the floods , or they are transported to other bodies of water by water birds.
The spring gill feet swim with the belly side up in the open water. In doing so, they filter plankton and detritus particles from the water with their leaf feet . When the water level falls and the water temperature increases, and the associated oxygen consumption , the adult animals die.
Taxonomy
The species was of Benedykt Dybowski for animals from Berlin, under the name Branchipus grubii first described . It belongs today within the genus Eubranchipus in the subgenus Siphonophanes Simon, 1886 and is the only species. Some authors considered the subgenus as independent, the species was then referred to by the synonymous name Siphonophanes grubii . The species can only be distinguished from other members of the Chirocephalidae family by the characteristics of the males (shape of the antennae and the mating organs).
Individual evidence
- ↑ January Brtek and Graziella Mura (2000): Revised Key to Families and Genera of the Anostraca with Notes on Their Geographical Distribution. Crustaceana 73 (9): 1037-1088. doi : 10.1163 / 156854000505083
- ↑ Mario Engelmann (2008): Determination of the large ranchopods in Germany. Treatises and Reports for Natural History 31: 25-34. PDF
- ^ Livio Flüeler: Survival artist from primeval times. In: Quarterly publication of the Natural Research Society in Zurich NGZH 161 (4) 2016: 11th Natural Research Society in Zurich, December 2016, accessed on December 24, 2016 .
- ↑ Mario Engelmann and Tom Hahn: Occurrence of Lepidurus apus, Triops cancriformis, Eubranchipus (Siphonophanes) grubii, Tanymastix stagnalis and Branchipus schaefferi in Germany and Austria (Crustacea: Notostraca and Anostraca). Faunistische Abhandlungen, 25, pp. 3–67, Dresden 2004 PDF (German)
- ↑ Denton Belk & Ján Brtek (1995): Checklist of the Anostraca. Hydrobiologia 298: 315-353.
- ^ Denton Belk (1995): Uncovering the Laurasian Roots of Eubranchipus. Hydrobiologia 298: 241-243.
- ↑ D. Christopher Rogers (2003): The development of the male second antenna in Polyartemiella hazeni (Murdoch, 1884) with a morphological definition of the Chirocephalidae (Crustacea: Anostraca). Zootaxa 251: 1-12.
literature
- Karsten Grabow: Color Atlas of Freshwater Fauna. Invertebrates. Eugen Ulmer Verlag, 2000, pp. 108-110, ISBN 3-8001-3145-5
- JO Först, G. Spörlein: Rediscovery of the spring gill foot Siphonophanes grub with DYBOWSKI. Report of the natural research society in Bamberg, 69, pp. 83-88, 1994
Web links
- Eubranchipus grubii at the website of the "Branchiopoden-Freunde" of Germany (ag-uzeitkrebse.de)
See also
Web links
- Eubranchipus grubii at Fauna Europaea
- Nicol Fichtner: Living Fossils: Tadpole Shrimp - Primeval crustaceans have been populating the earth for 500 million years
- Spring gill foot on the website of the Tadpole Shrimp Working Group in Germany