''Dexteria floridana'' is an extinct species of

fairy shrimp Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered mou ...

in the family

Chirocephalidae Chirocephalidae is a family of fairy shrimp, characterised by a reduced or vestigial maxilla, more than two setae on the fifth endite, divided pre-epipodites and widely separated seminal vesicles. It consists of the following eight genera Gen ...

, the only species in the genus ''Dexteria''. It was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, where it was known from a single pool, south of Gainesville. It was originally described by

Ralph W. Dexter Ralph W. Dexter (April 7, 1912 in Gloucester, Massachusetts – October 29, 1991) was a professor of Biology at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. He published over 300 articles on the ecology of marine communities, including crustaceans, mollusk ...

in 1953 as a species of ''

Eubranchipus ''Eubranchipus'' is a genus of brine shrimp and fairy shrimp in the family Chirocephalidae. There are 21 described species in ''Eubranchipus''. (see also) Species According to the World Register of Marine Species (), the genus contains the follo ...

''. The species was declared extinct on October 5, 2011 because it was found that the only known pool of water that contained the known population was filled in for development, thereby killing the shrimps.

References

Anostraca Monotypic Branchiopoda genera Endemic fauna of Florida Endemic crustaceans of the United States Freshwater crustaceans of North America Extinct animals of the United States Crustaceans described in 1953 Extinct invertebrates since 1500 Extinct crustaceans Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{branchiopoda-stub