SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM LORICIFERA
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PHYLUM LORICIFERA LINKS
| The following description of the phylum Loricifera came from Margulis and Schwartz (1998), Brusca and Brusca (2003), Nielsen (2001), Meglitsch and Schramm (1991), Ruppert and Barnes (1994), and Tudge (2000). |
- I. SYNONYMS: loriciferans, the brush heads
- II. NUMBER: >14 known species.
- II. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:
- A. Structure
- Symmetry: Bilateral
- Body Cavity: Pseudocoelom
- Body Covering: Outer cuticle.
- Support: Hydrostatic skeleton and cuticle; thorax covered by plated lorica.
- Digestive System: Mouth at end of mouth cone on head (introvert); anus terminal.
- Circulatory System: Absent.
- Locomotion: Animals move by extending anterior end allowing scalids, spines that look like an umbrella skeleton, catch on substrate.
- Excretory System: Absent.
- Nervous System: Anterior brain innervates each scalid and large ventral ganglion (text with tooltip) A ganglion (ganglia, pl.) is a cluster of nerve cells. A brain is an enlarged ganglion. in thorax.
- Endocrine System: None.
- B. Reproduction:
- Reproductive System: Sexes separate. Probably internal fertilization. Oviparous (text with tooltip) An oviparous (adj.) animal is one that releases eggs in its life cycle. They may be fertilized internally or externally. .
- Development: Development described for a few species. The larva goes through 6-7 molts before maturing as an adult and has a parthenogenetic stage. See the Life History of Rugiloricus
- C. Ecology: Marine in the interstices of the sediment, possibly cosmopolitan.
- A. Structure
