Rhabdopleurida

Rhabdopleura ( Gr. " rhabdos " = bar " pleura " = fin, rudder) is a genus of marine invertebrates of the class of Flügelkiemer ( Pterobranchia ). She lives above all in the cool seas of both hemispheres, even on the European Atlantic coast and the English Channel.

Features

Like all Flügelkiemer are also the Rhabdopleura types of worm-like, only millimeter-sized animals that inhabit self-produced tubes from scleroprotein in colonies. You can collar ( mesosoma ) and trunk ( metasoma ) are divided into head shield ( proboscis or Protosoma ). The head plate has a ventral ( downward ) directed glands rich adhesive disc with the can crawl the animals. Dorsal (top) on the collar is a Lophophorenpaar ( up to nine pairs at Cephalodiscus ), which are staffed with 15 to 30 arranged in two rows of ciliated tentacles and food particle capture ( filtration). The sack-shaped body contains the U-shaped digestive tract and simply constructed, unpaired gonads and running out into a long stalk, which connects via a stolon every single individuals of Rhabdopleura colony (as opposed to the free-moving Cephalodiscus species). The mouth is located on the collar just behind the adhesive disc, the anus on the opposite side behind the Lophophoren. Gill slits absent. Rhabdopleura species are only 1-2 mm long (without handle).

Species

  • Rhabdopleura annulata Norman, 1921
  • Rhabdopleura compacta Hincks, 1880
  • Rhabdopleura delmeri Mortelmans, 1955 †
  • Rhabdopleura gray soni Chapman, Durman & Rickards, 1995 †
  • Rhabdopleura Hollandi Rickards, Chapman & Temple, 1984 †
  • Rhabdopleura kozlowskii Kulicki, 1969 †
  • Rhabdopleura normani Allmann, 1869
  • Rhabdopleura obuti Durman & Sennikov, 1993 †
  • Rhabdopleura sinica Chapman, Durman & Rickards, 1995 †
  • Rhabdopleura striata Schepotieff, 1909
  • Rhabdopleura vistulae Kozlowski, 1956 †
George Allman (natural historian) Filter feeder Human gonad
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