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SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM CYCLIOPHORA

SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM CYCLIOPHORA (FUNCH AND KRISTENSEN 1995)

EUKARYA> UNIKONTA> OPISTHOKONTA> ANIMALIA> BILATERIA> PROTOSTOMATA> SPIRALIA> TROCHOZOA> POLYZOA> CYCLIOPHORA
CYCLIOPHORA LINKS

Introduction

Hierarchical Classification

The following information came from Margulis and Schwartz (1998), Brusca and Brusca (2003), Nielsen (2001), and Tudge (2000).

I. SYNONYMS: cycliophorans.

II. NUMBER: 2 species known.

III. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:

  • A. Structure
    • Symmetry: Bilateral
    • Body Cavity: Pseudocoelom (presumed).
    • Body Covering: Outer cuticle.
    • Support: Hydrostatic skeleton and cuticle.
    • Digestive System: Food tube U-shaped. Anus discharges outside of ciliary ring.
    • Circulatory System: Absent.
    • Locomotion: Animals sessile; anterior ciliary ring to move water.
    • Excretory System: Absent.
    • Nervous System: Anterior ganglion from which nerves emanate.
    • Endocrine System: None.
  • B. Reproduction:
    • Reproductive System: Sexes separate and dimorphic. Males are reduced, dwarfed, and live attached to females as little more than a packet of sperm. Budding of females also occurs. Males somehow fertilize the oocyte (egg) contained within the female bud.
    • Development: Alternation between sexual and asexual stages (as indicated above). Zygote develops into a swimming chordoid larva which seems to be a modified trochophore. This stage is the means of dispersal. Other details are not yet known.
  • C. Ecology: Ectoparasites or commensals on the mouthparts of marine decapod crustaceans. Larvae planktonic.
LITERATURE CITED

Brusca, R. C. and G. J. Brusca. 2003. Invertebrates. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, Mass.

Funch, P. and R.M. Kristensen. 1995: Cycliophora is a new phylum with affinities to Endoprocta and Ectoprocta. Nature. 378: 711-714. [L]

Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1998. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 3rd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Company. New York.

Meglitsch, P. A. and F. R. Schramm. 1991. Invertebrate Zoology. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.

Nielsen, C. 2001. Animal Evolution: Interrelationships of the Living Phyla. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

Obst M., P. Funch, and R. M. Kristensen. 2006. A new species of Cycliophora from the mouthparts of the American lobster Homarus americanus (Nephropidae, Decapoda). Organisms, Diversity & Evolution. 6:83-97.

Obst, M., P. Funch and G. Giribet. 2005. Hidden diversity and host specificity in cycliophorans: a phylogeographic analysis along the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Molecular Ecology. 14: 4427-4440.

Ruppert, E. E., R. S. Fox, and R. D. Barnes. 2004. Invertebrate Zoology: A Functional Evolutionary Approach. Seventh Edition. Thomson, Brooks/Cole. New York. pp. 1-963.

Tudge, C. 2000. The Variety of Life, A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures That Have Ever Lived. Oxford University Press. New York.

Valentine, J. W. 2004. The Origin of Phyla. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. 614 pp.

Winnepenninckx, B., T. Backeljau, and R. M. Kristensen. 1998. Relations of the new Phylum Cycliophora. Nature. 393:636-638.
By Jack R. Holt and Carlos A. Iudica. Last revised: 01/29/2012
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