Gnathifera

• Overview
• Taxonomy
• Phyla
• Sources

Overview

Taxonomy

Phyla

Acanthocephala

The Acanthocephala (Greek akanthos, thorn + kephale, head) is a phylum of parasitic worms known as acanthocephales, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterised by the presence of an evertable proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to pierce and hold the gut wall of its host. Acanthocephalans typically have complex life cycles, involving a number of hosts, including invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, birds, and mammals. About 1150 species have been described. [more]

Cycliophora

[more]

Gnathostomulida

Gnathostomulids, or jaw worms, are a small phylum of nearly microscopic marine animals. Most measure between 0.5 and 1 mm long. Like flatworms they have a ciliated epidermis, but are unique in having but one cilium per cell. They have no body cavity, and no circulatory or respiratory system. Each gnathostomulid is simultaneously hermaphrodite, possessing an ovary and a testis. They are characterized by a specialized, muscular jaw, which they use to scrape smaller organisms off of the grains of sand that make up their anoxic seabed mud habitat. This bilaterally symmetrical pharynx with its complex cuticular mouth parts make them appear closely related to rotifers and their allies, together making up the Gnathifera. [more]

Rotifera

The rotifers make up a phylum of microdik and near-microdik pseudocoelomate animals. They were first described by John Harris in 1696 (Hudson and Gosse, 1886). Leeuwenhoek is mistakenly given credit for being the first to describe rotifers but Harris had produced sketches in 1703. Most rotifers are around 0.1-0.5 mm long, and are common in freshwater throughout the world with a few saltwater species. Rotifers may be free swimming and truly planktonic, others move by inchworming along the substrate whilst some are sessile, living inside tubes or gelatinous holdfasts. About 25 species are colonial (e.g. Sinantherina semibullata), either sessile or planktonic. [more]

At least 2,471 species and subspecies belong to the Phylum Rotifera.

More info about the Phylum Rotifera may be found here.

Sources

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