Maxillopoda
| Maxillopoda Temporal range: Mid Cambrian–Recent |
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| Cyclops (Copepoda: Cyclopoida) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Maxillopoda Dahl, 1956 [1] |
| Sub-classes | |
Maxillopoda is a diverse class of crustaceans including barnacles, copepods and a number of related animals. It does not appear to be a monophyletic group, and no single character unites all the members.[2]
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[edit] Description
With the exception of some barnacles, maxillopodans are mostly small,[3] including the smallest known arthropod, Stygotantulus stocki.[2] They often have short bodies, with the abdomen reduced in size, and generally lacking any appendages [3] This may have arisen through paedomorphosis.[3]
Apart from barnacles, which use their legs for filter feeding, most maxillopodans feed with their maxillae. They have a bauplan comprising 5 cephalic segments, 6 thoracic segments and 4 abdominal segments, followed by a telson.[4]
[edit] Fossil record
The fossil record of the group extends back into the Cambrian, with fossils of both barnacles[5] and tongue worms[6] known from that period.
[edit] Classification
Six subclasses are generally recognised, although many works have further included the ostracods among the Maxillopoda.[2] Of the six groups, only Mystacocarida are entirely free-living; all the members of the Tantulocarida, Pentastomida and Branchiura are parasitic, and many of the Copepoda and Thecostraca are parasites.
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maxillopoda |
- ^ "Maxillopoda". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=621145. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ a b c Joel W. Martin & George E. Davis (2001) (PDF). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 132. http://atiniui.nhm.org/pdfs/3839/3839.pdf.
- ^ a b c "Introduction to Maxillopoda". University of California, Berkeley. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/maxillopoda.html. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
- ^ Phil Myers (2001). "Maxillopoda". Animal Diversity Web. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Maxillopoda.html. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
- ^ B. A. Foster & J. S. Buckeridge (1987). "Barnacle palaeontology". In A. J. Southward. Crustacean Issues 5: Barnacle Biology. pp. 41–63. ISBN 90-6191-628-3.
- ^ Dieter Waloszek, John E. Repetski & Andreas Maas (2005). "A new Late Cambrian pentastomid and a review of the relationships of this parasitic group". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 96: 163–176. doi:10.1017/S0263593300001280.
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