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Tantulocarida
Microdajus sp.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Superclass:	Multicrustacea
Class:	Tantulocarida G. A. Boxshall & R. J. Lincoln, 1983
Families
Basipodellidae Cumoniscidae (formerly Deoterthridae) Doryphallophoridae Microdajidae Onceroxenidae

Tantulocarida is a highly specialised group of parasitic crustaceans that consists of about 33 species, treated as a class in superclass Multicrustacea. They are typically ectoparasites that infest copepods, isopods, tanaids, amphipods and ostracods.

Description

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2024)

In the Tantulocarida, animals do not ever present eyes.

The tantulus larvae has a head with a ventral oral disc but no appendages, a six-segmented thorax with six pairs of legs, and a limbless abdomen consisting of one to six segments in addition to a telson.

Body length

Members of this subclass are minute – less than 0.3 millimetres (0.012 in) in length and have a dramatic reduction in body form compared to other crustaceans, with an unsegmented, sac-like thorax and a much reduced abdomen. One tantulocarid species, Tantulacus dieteri, is the world's smallest arthropod, with a total body length of only 85 micrometres (0.0033 in).

Life cycle

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2018)

The tantulocarid life cycle is unique among crustaceans. The tantulus larva transforms directly from a non-feeding (lecithotrophic) and free-swimming organism into a parasite without any instars. When entering the parasitic stage much of the body, such as the muscles, degenerates, even if the body itself becomes bigger. As a parasite it is permanently attached to its host, and after piercing its host's cuticle with an unpaired stylet, a rootlet system used to absorb nutrients enters through the hole and grow into the host’s tissue. The adult form develops inside the larva, and can become either a sac-like parthenogenetic female, or a fully developed free-living, non-feeding and sexually-reproducing male or female. The eggs inside the parthenogenetic female are eventually released as fully developed tantulus larvae. The finding of what appears to be a benthic non-feeding nauplius larva suggests that eggs produced by sexual females hatch as nauplii instead of tantulus larvae. Both the parthenogenetic and sexual females are semelparous.

Classification

Five families are recognised:

References

1. "Tantulocarida". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
2. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Tantulocarida". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
3. Geoffrey A. Boxshall & Roger J. Lincoln (February 1983). "Tantulocarida, a new class of Crustacea ectoparasitic on other crustaceans". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 3 (1): 1–16. doi:10.2307/1547849. JSTOR 1547849.
4. Oakley, T. H.; Cunningham, C. W. (2002). "Molecular phylogenetic evidence for the independent evolutionary origin of an arthropod compound eye". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99 (3): 1426–1430. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99.1426O. doi:10.1073/pnas.032483599. PMC 122207. PMID 11818548.
5. Multicellular Animals: Volume II: The Phylogenetic System of the Metazoa
6. "Tantulocarida". AccessScience Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill. Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
7. Inga Mohrbeck, Pedro Martínez Arbizu & Thomas Glatzel (October 2010). "Tantulocarida (Crustacea) from the Southern Ocean deep sea, and the description of three new species of Tantulacus Huys, Andersen & Kristensen, 1992". Systematic Parasitology. 77 (2): 131–151. doi:10.1007/s11230-010-9260-0. PMID 20852984. S2CID 7325858.
8. G. A. Boxshall & R. J. Lincoln (June 11, 1987). "The life cycle of the Tantulocarida (Crustacea)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 315 (1173): 267–303. Bibcode:1987RSPTB.315..267B. doi:10.1098/rstb.1987.0009. JSTOR 2396610.
9. Petrunina, Alexandra S.; Kolbasov, Gregory A.; Martinez Arbizu, Pedro (2019). "Anatomy of the free tantulus larva (Crustacea: Tantulocarida) studied with confocal laser scanning microscopy: An extreme case of miniatuarisation in the Arthropoda". Progress in Oceanography. 178. Bibcode:2019PrOce.17802190P. doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2019.102190.
10. Itoitantulus misophricola gen. et sp. nov.: First Record of Tantulocarida (Crustacea: Maxillopoda) in the North Pacific Region
11. Huys, Rony; Boxshall, Geoffrey A.; Lincoln, Roger J. (1993). "The Tantulocaridan Life Cycle: the Circle Closed?". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 13 (3): 432–442. doi:10.2307/1548786. ISSN 0278-0372. JSTOR 1548786.
12. Anatomy of the Tantulocarida: first results obtained using TEM and CLSM. Part I: tantulus larva - GfBS
13. Atlas of Crustacean Larvae
14. WoRMS. "Tantulocarida". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
15. Geoff Boxshall (August 20, 2008). T. Chad Walter & Geoff Boxshall (ed.). "Basipodellidae". World Copepoda database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
16. Geoff Boxshall (August 20, 2008). T. Chad Walter & Geoff Boxshall (ed.). "Doryphallophoridae". World Copepoda database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
17. Geoff Boxshall (August 20, 2008). T. Chad Walter & Geoff Boxshall (ed.). "Microdajidae". World Copepoda database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
18. WoRMS. "Cumoniscidae Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis, 1923". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
19. Geoff Boxshall (2012). Walter TC, Boxshall G (eds.). "Onceroxenidae". World of Copepods database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2016-09-10.

External links

• Data related to Tantulocarida at Wikispecies

• Maxillopoda
• Parasitic crustaceans
• Arthropod subclasses