Cephalocarida

Cephalocarida
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Cephalocarida Sanders, 1955
Order:	Brachypoda Birshteyn, 1960
Family:	Hutchinsoniellidae Sanders, 1955
Genera
Chiltoniella Hampsonellus Hutchinsoniella Lightiella Sandersiella

Cephalocarida is a class inside the subphylum Crustacea that comprises only twelve shrimp-like benthic species. They were discovered in 1955 by Howard L. Sanders,^[1] and are commonly referred to as horseshoe shrimps. They have been grouped together with the Remipedia in the Xenocarida. Although a second family, Lightiellidae, is sometimes used, all cephalocaridans are generally considered to belong in just one family: Hutchinsoniellidae. Even though there is no fossil record of cephalocaridans, most specialists believe them to be primitive among crustaceans.

Description and anatomy

These crustaceans are from 2 to 4 millimetres (0.079 to 0.16 in) in length, with an elongate body. They have a large head, the hind edge of which covers the first thoracic segment. They have no eyes, presumably because of their muddy natural habitat. The second pair of antennae is located behind the mouth; in all other crustaceans the antennae are in front of the mouth at the adult stage, and only their larvae have antennae that have the same location as adult cephalocaridans.^[2]

The mouth is located behind the large upper lip, flanked by mandibles. The first pair of maxillae is very small, and the second pair has the same structure as the following thoracic legs: a large basal part, equipped with outgrowths on the inner side, used in locomotion, a forked inner branch and two outer lobes - referred to as the "pseudoepipod" and the "exopod". The structural and functional similarity between the maxillae and the legs may be a sign of primitive organization; the maxillae are not specialized, as they are in other crustaceans.^[2]

The thorax consists of 10 segments, and the abdomen bears a telson but no other appendages.

Ecology

Cephalocaridans are found from the intertidal zone down to a depth of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft), in all kinds of sediments. Cephalocaridans feed on marine detritus. To bring in food particles, they generate currents with the thoracic appendages like the branchiopods and the malacostracans. Food particles are then passed anteriorly along a ventral groove, leading to the mouthparts.^[3]

References

Crustaceans portal

1. ^ Howard L. Sanders (1955). "The Cephalocarida, a new subclass of Crustacea from Long Island Sound". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 41 (1): 61–66. Bibcode 1955PNAS...41...61S. JSTOR 89010. PMC 528024. PMID 16589618. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=528024. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Robert D. Barnes (1982). Invertebrate Zoology. Philadelphia, PA: Holt-Saunders International. p. 672. ISBN 978-0-03-056747-6. 
3. ^ L. A. Zenkevich. "Phylum Arthropoda". The Animal Life [Zhizn' Zhivotnykh]. 2. 

External links

• Data related to Cephalocarida at Wikispecies