Rhizocephala

Rhizocephala
Externa (highlighted) of mature female Sacculina on a female Liocarcinus holsatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Thecostraca
Subclass: Cirripedia
Infraclass: Rhizocephala
Müller, 1862

Rhizocephala are derived barnacles that are parasitic castrators. Their hosts are mostly decapod crustaceans, but include Peracarida, mantis shrimps and thoracican barnacles. Their habitats range from the deep ocean to freshwater.[1][2] Together with their sister groups Thoracica and Acrothoracica, they make up the subclass Cirripedia.[3] Their body plan is uniquely reduced in an extreme adaptation to their parasitic lifestyle, and makes their relationship to other barnacles unrecognisable in the adult form. The name Rhizocephala derives from the Ancient Greek roots ῥίζα (rhiza, "root") and κεφαλή (kephalē, "head"), describing the adult female, which mostly consists of a network of thread-like extensions penetrating the body of the host.[4]

  1. ^ Pérez-Losada, Marcos; Høeg, Jens T; Crandall, Keith A (17 April 2009). "Remarkable convergent evolution in specialized parasitic Thecostraca (Crustacea)". BMC Biology. 7: 15. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-7-15. PMC 2678073. PMID 19374762.
  2. ^ Walker, Graham (July 2001). "Introduction to the Rhizocephala (Crustacea: Cirripedia)". Journal of Morphology. 249 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1002/jmor.1038. PMID 11410936. S2CID 41339146.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chan2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Etymology of the Latin word Rhizocephala". MyEtymology. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

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