Branchiopoda

(redirected from branchiopods)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical.
Related to branchiopods: Foraminifera

Branchiopoda

[‚braŋ·kē′äp·ə·də]
(invertebrate zoology)
A subclass of crustaceans containing small or moderate-sized animals commonly called fairy shrimps, clam shrimps, and water fleas.

Branchiopoda

 

a subclass of the class Crustacea. The head is not fused with the front thoracic segments. There is no mandibular palp, and both the maxilla and mandible are weakly developed. The thoracic limbs are foliate and nonsegmented as a rule; they are used for locomotion, breathing, and bringing food to the mouth. The nerve stems of the ventral nerve cord are widely spaced. There are from four to 11 (rarely as many as 19) thoracic segments. The cephalothoracic carapace is shaped like a shield or a bivalve shell or is entirely absent. The animals live mainly in fresh water. The subclass comprises three orders: Anostraca, Phyllopoda, and Lipostraca (represented only by extinct forms).

Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
Field dispersal of branchiopods, ostracods and bryozoans by teal (Anas crecca) in the Camargue (southern France).
Graham and Wirth (2008) argued that wind is the most important dispersal mechanism of branchiopod cysts on the Colorado Plateau.
Genetic variation within and among populations of fairy shrimp, Streptocephalus texanus, from southeastern Utah
The brain was also composed of three fused segments, whereas in branchiopods only two segments are fused.
In branchiopods, there are always only two visual neuropils and they are not linked by crossing fibers.
Complex brains evolved much earlier than thought
Low vegetation (Xyridacaea, Echinocaulaceae) in the dry pools fix the sand, helping to maintain a branchiopod eggbank (Figure 2).
Cladocera of the Lencois Maranhenses (NE--Brazil): faunal composition and a reappraisal of Sars' Method/Cladocera dos Lencois Maranhenses (NE--Brasil): composicao faunistica e uma reavaliacao do metodo de Sars
Evolution has not been especially kind to branchiopods to this point.
These days, branchiopods fare best in pools that periodically dry up, making it harder for those predatory aquatic insects to get established.
Instant life: just add water: in the harsh arid landscape of Canyonlands National Park, some peculiar organisms spring to life after only a few inches of rainfall
Co-occurrence of branchiopods in ephemeral pools is not unusual.
Species richness of calanoid copepods, cladocerans and other branchiopods in Carolina Bay temporary ponds.
Sympatric occurrence of Eubranchiopoda in ephemeral pools: a comment
Now we have shown that the heartbeat of the branchiopod Triops longicaudatus is myogenic, and that the heart muscle acts as a diffuse pacemaker.
Myogenic heartbeat in the primitive crustacean Triops longicaudatus
Structure and habits of living branchiopod crustaceans and their bearing on the interpretation of fossil forms.
Physiological properties of hemoglobin in the branchiopod crustacean Triops.
Sensitivity of metabolic rate, growth, and fecundity of tadpole shrimp Triops longicaudatus to environmental variation

Encyclopedia browser ?
Full browser ?