Leptostraca
{{Short description|Extant order of crustaceans}}
{{Automatic Taxobox
| image = Nebalia bipes.jpg
| image_caption = Nebalia bipes
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Cambrian|Recent}}
| taxon = Leptostraca
| authority = Claus, 1880 {{ITIS |id=331680 |taxon=Leptostraca |accessdate=October 28, 2010}}
| subdivision_ranks = Families
| subdivision = *Nebaliidae
}}
Leptostraca (from the Greek words for thin and shell){{cite web |url=http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?leptostraca |title=Leptostraca |publisher=Online Medical Dictionary |date=March 1, 1998}} is an order of small, marine crustaceans. Its members, including the well-studied Nebalia, occur throughout the world's oceans and are usually considered to be filter-feeders.{{Cite web |url=http://www.crustacea.net/crustace/www/leptostr.htm |author=J. K. Lowry |title=Leptostraca |work=Crustacea, the Higher Taxa: Description, Identification, and Information Retrieval |date=October 2, 1999 |publisher=Australian Museum |access-date=August 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923034139/http://www.crustacea.net/crustace/www/leptostr.htm |archive-date=September 23, 2017 |url-status=dead }} It is the only extant order in the subclass Phyllocarida. They are believed to represent the most primitive members of their class, the Malacostraca, and first appear in the fossil record during the Cambrian period.
Description
Leptostracans are usually small, typically {{convert|5|to|15|mm|1}} long,{{cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/phyllocarida-leptostracans-biological-family |author=Estela C. Lopretto |publisher=Answers.com |date=July 30, 2003 |title=Phyllocarida}} but the largest species (Nebaliopsis typica) can reach 4 cm, and the Silurian Ceratiocaris could grow to 75 cm.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ozNIDAAAQBAJ&dq=Ceratiocaris+75+Nebaliopsis&pg=PT660 Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution] They are distinguished from all other members of their class in having seven abdominal segments, instead of six. Their head has stalked compound eyes, two pairs of antennae (one biramous, one uniramous), and a pair of mandibles but no maxillipeds. They are the only malacostracans with a carapace that comprises two valves. It covers the head and the thorax, including most of the thoracic appendages, and serves as a brood pouch for the developing embryos. Its anterior tip bears a movable rostrum. Also unique among malacostracans is their eight pairs of thoracic appendages which have been specialized into leaf-like filter feeding organs, and are not used for locomotion. The first six abdominal segments bear pleopods, while the seventh bears a pair of caudal furcae, which may be homologous to uropods of other crustaceans.{{cite journal |url=http://www.tiho-hannover.de/einricht/botanik/koenemann/knopfetal06.pdf |title=The urosome of the Pan- and Peracarida |author=F. Knopf |author2=S. Koenemann |author3=F. R. Schram |author3-link=Frederick Schram |author4=C. Wolff |name-list-style=amp |year=2006 |journal=Contributions to Zoology |volume=75 |issue=1/2 |pages=1–21 |doi=10.1163/18759866-0750102001 |access-date=2007-08-08 |archive-date=2007-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014165817/http://www.tiho-hannover.de/einricht/botanik/koenemann/knopfetal06.pdf |url-status=dead }}[https://museumsvictoria.com.au/media/3996/58_2_walker.pdf A phylogeny of the Leptostraca (Crustacea) with keys to families and genera][https://books.google.com/books?id=x7vtCAAAQBAJ&dq=Leptostraca+carapace+two+valves+turgor&pg=PA162 Multicellular Animals: Volume II: The Phylogenetic System of the Metazoa]
Leptostracans have gills on their thoracic limbs, but also breathe through a respiratory membrane on the inside of the carapace. The eggs hatch as a postlarval, or "manca" stage, which lacks a fully developed carapace, but otherwise resembles the adult.{{cite book |author=Robert D. Barnes |year=1982 |title= Invertebrate Zoology |publisher=Holt-Saunders International |location=Philadelphia, PA |pages= 708–709|isbn= 978-0-03-056747-6}}
Classification
It is now accepted that leptostracans belong to the Malacostraca,{{cite book |url=http://atiniui.nhm.org/pdfs/3839/3839.pdf |title=An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea |author1=J. W. Martin |author2=G. E. Davis |year=2001 |pages=132 pp |publisher=Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County |access-date=2009-12-14 |archive-date=2013-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512091254/http://atiniui.nhm.org/pdfs/3839/3839.pdf |url-status=dead }} and the sister crown group to Leptostraca is Eumalacostraca.{{cite web |url=http://www.tolweb.org/Malacostraca/6253 |title=Malacostraca |work=Tree of Life Web Project |date=January 1, 2002}}
The order Leptostraca is divided into three families, with ten genera containing a total of around 40 validly described extant species:{{cite web |url=http://crustacea.nhm.org/peet/leptostraca/classification.html |title=Classification |publisher=Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County |year=2004 |author=Todd Haney |access-date=August 8, 2007 |archive-date=October 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014171839/http://crustacea.nhm.org/peet/leptostraca/classification.html |url-status=dead }}
References
{{Reflist|24em}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Leptostraca|Leptostraca}}
- {{Wikispecies-inline|Leptostraca|Leptostraca}}
{{Malacostraca}}
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