Yoda purpurata
| Yoda purpurata | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Yoda | ||||||||||||
| Priede, Osborn, Gebruk, Jones, Shale, Rogacheva & Holland, 2012 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Yoda purpurata | ||||||||||||
| Priede , Osborn , Gebruk , Jones , Shale , Rogacheva & Holland , 2012 |
Yoda purpurata is a species of acorn worm that lives in the deep sea and is so far only known from the North Atlantic. It wasnamed after the fictional character Yoda from the Star Wars filmsby its first description because of the protruding collar edges that are reminiscent of ears.
features
The previously known four representatives of Yoda purpurata reach a body length of 12 to 19 centimeters. They have a dark red-violet glans (proboscis), and the collar and the attached genital wings, which are placed dorsally over the front area of the abdomen (metasoma), are correspondingly red-violet in color. The rear areas are colored lighter purple.
Unlike all acorn worms known so far, the individuals of Yoda purpurata are hermaphrodites , i.e. they have both female and male sex organs. They are developed in the form of numerous testes and ovaries in the genital wings. Two thirds of the width of the collar is accounted for by a pair of gradually tapering side lips, each three times as long as the area where they are attached. A conical neck protrusion also protrudes dorsally from the front dorsal edge of the collar on both sides of the midline.
Locations and way of life
Like almost all previously known species of the Torquaratoridae , Yoda purpurata also lives in the bottom of the deep sea . The individuals thus far described four are from depths of about 2500 to 2760 meters in the North Atlantic ( 48 ° 43 '48 " N , 28 ° 39' 0" W ) and were mixed with the aid of a remote-controlled underwater vehicle filmed and collected (remotely operated vehicle, ROV) .
The animals live on the sea floor and leave behind an irregularly meandering trail of feces . On video recordings that show the animals being picked up from the sea floor, it is documented that the animals stick comparatively firmly to the bottom, whereby a particularly sticky slime produced by the animals is suspected.
Systematics
Yoda purpurata was scientifically described in 2012 as the only species of the also newly described genus Yoda and together with two other species of acorn worms by an international working group led by Imants G. Priede from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla , California . All three species were classified in the Torquaratoridae family, which was also only described by members of the team in 2005 and confirmed by molecular biology in 2012.
The genus Yoda was named after the fictional character Yoda from the Star Wars films because of the wide side wings of the collar , as they are reminiscent of his ears after the authors. The species name purpurata is derived from the live color of the animals, which according to film recordings and photos are dark red-violet.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f Imants G. Priede, Karen J. Osborn, Andrey V. Gebruk, Dan Jones, David Shale, Antonina Rogacheva, Nicholas D. Holland: Observations on torquaratorid acorn worms (Hemichordata, Enteropneusta) from the North Atlantic with descriptions of a new genus and three new species. Invertebrate Biology 131 (3), September 2012; Pp. 244-257. doi : 10.1111 / j.1744-7410.2012.00266.x .
- ↑ Nicholas D. Holland, David A. Clague, Dennis P. Gordon, Andrey Gebruk, David L. Pawson & Michael Vecchione: 'Lophenteropneust' hypothesis refuted by collection and photos of new deep-sea hemichordates. (PDF; 281 kB) Nature 434, pages 374–376, March 17, 2005. doi : 10.1038 / nature03382 .
- ↑ Karen J. Osborn, Linda A. Kuhnz, Imants G. Priede, Makoto Urata, Andrey V. Gebruk & Nicholas D. Holland: Diversification of acorn worms (Hemichordata, Enteropneusta) revealed in the deep sea (PDF; 1.3 MB ) Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B, November 2011. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2011.1916 .
literature
- Imants G. Priede, Karen J. Osborn, Andrey V. Gebruk, Dan Jones, David Shale, Antonina Rogacheva, Nicholas D. Holland: Observations on torquaratorid acorn worms (Hemichordata, Enteropneusta) from the North Atlantic with descriptions of a new genus and three new species. Invertebrate Biology 131 (3), September 2012; Pp. 244-257. doi : 10.1111 / j.1744-7410.2012.00266.x .
Web links
- BJ Swalla, J. van der Land: Yoda purpurata . In: N. Shenkar, BJ Swalla, J. van der Land: Hemichordata World Database , World Register of Marine Species 2020.