Lophogastrida

Lophogastrida
Gnathophausia zoea (Gnathophausiidae)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Superorder: Peracarida
Order: Lophogastrida
G. O. Sars, 1870
Families

Lophogastrida is an order of malacostracan crustaceans in the superorder Peracarida, comprising shrimp-like animals that mostly inhabit the relatively deep pelagic waters of the oceans throughout the world.[1]

Most lophogastridan species are 1–8 centimetres (0.4–3.1 in) long, but Gnathophausia ingens can be up to 35 cm (14 in), probably the largest pelagic crustacean in the world.[1] Some 56 extant species in total are currently known. They are classified into three families and nine genera.[2]

The external features of lophogastrids include stalked compound eyes, a carapace that covers the head and thorax, and a muscular cylindrical abdomen. The carapace often extends beyond their heads to form an elongated rostrum. As with other peracarids, lophogastrids are distinct from Caridean shrimp in that they carry their developing embryos and young in a brood pouch, or marsupium, and thus lack a separate planktonic larval stage.[3]

Previously, Lophogastrida was classified as a suborder of a broader peracaridan order, Mysidacea, together with Mysida and Stygiomysida, but that taxon has been generally abandoned.[1][2][4][5] Features distinguishing lophogastrids from the mysids include the absence of statocysts in their uropods, and the presence of well-developed biramous pleopods on their abdomens.[1] Their molecular characters also differ.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Richard C. Brusca & Gary J. Brusca (2003). Invertebrates (2nd ed.). Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates. ISBN 978-0-87893-097-5.
  2. ^ a b Gary Anderson (January 20, 2010). "Peracarida taxa and literature (Cumacea, Lophogastrida, Mysida, Stygiomysida and Tanaidacea)". Archived from the original on January 24, 2010.
  3. ^ J. H. S. Blaxter, F. S. Russell & M. Yonge, ed. (1980). The Biology of Mysids and Euphausiids. Advances in Marine Biology. Vol. 18. Academic Press. pp. 1–680. ISBN 978-0-08-057941-2.
  4. ^ Jan Mees (2011). "Lophogastrida". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  5. ^ Joel W. Martin & George E. Davis (2001). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea (PDF). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 132 pp.
  6. ^ Kenneth Meland & Endre Willassen (2007). "The disunity of "Mysidacea" (Crustacea)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 44 (3): 1083–1104. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.02.009. PMID 17398121.