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Hemichordates
Hemichordata ( ) is a phylum which consists of triploblastic, eucoelomate, and bilaterally symmetrical marine deuterostome animals, generally considered the sister group of the echinoderms. They appear in the Lower or Middle Cambrian and include two main classes: Enteropneusta (acorn worms), and Pterobranchia. A third class, Planctosphaeroidea, is known only from the larva of a single species, ''Planctosphaera pelagica''. The class Graptolithina, formerly considered extinct, is now placed within the pterobranchs, represented by a single living genus ''Rhabdopleura''. Acorn worms are solitary worm-shaped organisms. They generally live in burrows (the earliest secreted tubes) and are deposit feeders, but some species are pharyngeal filter feeders, while the family are free living detritivores. Many are well known for their production and accumulation of various halogenated phenols and pyrroles. Pterobranchs are filter-feeders, mostly colonial, living in a collagenous tubular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhabdopleura
''Rhabdopleura'' is a genus of colonial sessile hemichordates belonging to the Pterobranchia class. They are exclusively marine, benthic organisms whose species occur within all major oceans and range in habitat from intertidal to c. 900 m.Gordon, D.P., Quek, Z.B.R., Orr, R.J.S. et al. (2023). Morphological diversity and a ribosomal phylogeny of Rhabdopleura (Hemichordata: Graptolithina) from the Western Pacific (Singapore and New Zealand), with implications for a re-evaluation of rhabdopleurid species diversity. Mar. Biodivers. 53, 4 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-022-01310-3 As one of the oldest living genera with a fossil record dating back to the Middle Cambrian, it is also considered to be the only living genus of graptolites. ''Rhabdopleura'' is the best studied pterobranch in developmental biology. Research in the 2010s by Jörg Maletz and other paleontologists and biologists have demonstrated that ''Rhabdopleura'' is an extant graptolite. History The first ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyaltsenglossus
''Gyaltsenglossus'' (; from ''Gyaltsen'', the discoverer's father's name, and the Greek ''glossa'', meaning "tongue", a common generic suffix for hemichordates; the species name ''senis'' derives from the Greek ''senex'' meaning “old”) is a monospecific hemichordate known from the Burgess Shale of Canada that is notable for advancing the understanding of the early evolution of the phylum Hemichordata. Its discovery has been hailed as a "breakthrough" due to featuring both Pterobranch-like feeding tentacles and an Enteropneust-like proboscis-tipped elongate body, thus uniting the two morphologically disparate orders of the Hemichordata. A phylogenetic analysis recovered ''Gyaltsenglossus senis'' as the first known stem group hemichordate. ''Gyaltsenglossus'' was able to both attach to a substrate for upright suspension feeding and crawl along the seafloor for deposit feeding, suggesting that bimodal feeding may have been an early feature of the hemichordates. Its bulbous post ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterobranchs
Pterobranchia, members of which are often called pterobranchs, is a class of small worm-shaped animals. They belong to the Hemichordata, and live in secreted tubes on the ocean floor. Pterobranchia feed by filtering plankton out of the water with the help of cilia attached to tentacles. There are about 25 known living pterobranch species in three genera, which are '' Rhabdopleura'', '' Cephalodiscus'', and '' Atubaria''. On the other hand, there are several hundred extinct genera, some of which date from the Cambrian Period. The class Pterobranchia was established by Ray Lankester in 1877. It contained, at that time, the single genus '' Rhabdopleura''. ''Rhabdopleura'' was at first regarded as an aberrant polyzoon, but when the ''Challenger'' report on '' Cephalodiscus'' was published in 1887, it became clear that ''Cephalodiscus'', the second genus now included in the order, had affinities with the Enteropneusta. Electron microscope studies have suggested that pterobranchs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterobranchia
Pterobranchia, members of which are often called pterobranchs, is a class of small worm-shaped animals. They belong to the Hemichordata, and live in secreted tubes on the ocean floor. Pterobranchia feed by filtering plankton out of the water with the help of cilia attached to tentacles. There are about 25 known living pterobranch species in three genera, which are '' Rhabdopleura'', '' Cephalodiscus'', and '' Atubaria''. On the other hand, there are several hundred extinct genera, some of which date from the Cambrian Period. The class Pterobranchia was established by Ray Lankester in 1877. It contained, at that time, the single genus '' Rhabdopleura''. ''Rhabdopleura'' was at first regarded as an aberrant polyzoon, but when the ''Challenger'' report on '' Cephalodiscus'' was published in 1887, it became clear that ''Cephalodiscus'', the second genus now included in the order, had affinities with the Enteropneusta. Electron microscope studies have suggested that pterobranch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acorn Worm
The acorn worms or Enteropneusta are a hemichordate class of invertebrates consisting of one order of the same name. The closest non-hemichordate relatives of the Enteropneusta are the echinoderms. There are 111 known species of acorn worm in the world, the main species for research being '' Saccoglossus kowalevskii''. Two families— Harrimaniidae and Ptychoderidae—separated at least 370 million years ago. Until recently, it was thought that all species lived in the sediment on the seabed, subsisting as deposit feeders or suspension feeders. However, the early 21st century has seen the description of a new family, the Torquaratoridae, evidently limited to the deep sea, in which most of the species crawl on the surface of the ocean bottom and alternatively rise into the water column, evidently to drift to new foraging sites. It is assumed that the ancestors of acorn worms used to live in tubes like their relatives Pterobranchia, but that they eventually started to live a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deuterostome
Deuterostomes (from Greek: ) are bilaterian animals of the superphylum Deuterostomia (), typically characterized by their anus forming before the mouth during embryonic development. Deuterostomia comprises three phyla: Chordata, Echinodermata, Hemichordata, and the extinct clade Cambroernida. In deuterostomes, the developing embryo's first opening (the blastopore) becomes the anus and cloaca, while the mouth is formed at a different site later on. This was initially the group's distinguishing characteristic, but deuterostomy has since been discovered among protostomes as well. The deuterostomes are also known as enterocoelomates, because their coelom develops through pouching of the gut, enterocoely. Deuterostomia's sister clade is Protostomia, animals that develop mouth first and whose digestive tract development is more varied. Protostomia includes the ecdysozoans and spiralians, as well as the extinct '' Kimberella''. Together with the Xenacoelomorpha, these constit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylum
In biology, a phylum (; : phyla) is a level of classification, or taxonomic rank, that is below Kingdom (biology), kingdom and above Class (biology), class. Traditionally, in botany the term division (taxonomy), division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants accepts the terms as equivalent. Depending on definitions, the animal kingdom Animalia contains about 31 phyla, the plant kingdom Plantae contains about 14 phyla, and the fungus kingdom Fungi contains about eight phyla. Current research in phylogenetics is uncovering the relationships among phyla within larger clades like Ecdysozoa and Embryophyta. General description The term phylum was coined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel from the Greek (, "race, stock"), related to (, "tribe, clan"). Haeckel noted that species constantly evolved into new species that seemed to retain few consistent features among themselves and therefore few features that distinguishe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambrian
The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 486.85 Ma. Most of the continents lay in the southern hemisphere surrounded by the vast Panthalassa Ocean. The assembly of Gondwana during the Ediacaran and early Cambrian led to the development of new convergent plate boundaries and continental-margin arc magmatism along its margins that helped drive up global temperatures. Laurentia lay across the equator, separated from Gondwana by the opening Iapetus Ocean. The Cambrian marked a profound change in life on Earth; prior to the Period, the majority of living organisms were small, unicellular and poorly preserved. Complex, multicellular organisms gradually became more common during the Ediacaran, but it was not until the Cambrian that fossil diversity seems to rapidly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyrroles
Pyrrole is a heterocyclic, Aromaticity, aromatic, organic compound, a five-membered Ring (chemistry), ring with the chemical formula, formula . It is a colorless volatile liquid that darkens readily upon exposure to air. Substituted derivatives are also called pyrroles, e.g., ''N''-methylpyrrole, . Porphobilinogen, a trisubstituted pyrrole, is the biosynthetic precursor to many natural products such as heme. Pyrroles are components of more complex macrocycles, including the porphyrinogens and products derived therefrom, including porphyrins of heme, the chlorins, bacteriochlorins, and chlorophylls. Properties, structure, bonding Pyrrole is a colorless volatility (chemistry), volatile liquid that darkens readily upon exposure to air, and is usually purified by distillation immediately before use. Pyrrole has a nutty odor. Pyrrole is a 5-membered aromatic heterocycle, like furan and thiophene. Unlike furan and thiophene, it has a dipole in which the positive end lies on the side of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collagenous
Collagen () is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix of the connective tissues of many animals. It is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up 25% to 35% of protein content. Amino acids are bound together to form a triple helix of elongated fibril known as a collagen helix. It is mostly found in cartilage, bones, tendons, ligaments, and skin. Vitamin C is vital for collagen synthesis. Depending on the degree of mineralization, collagen tissues may be rigid (bone) or compliant (tendon) or have a gradient from rigid to compliant (cartilage). Collagen is also abundant in corneas, blood vessels, the gut, intervertebral discs, and the dentin in teeth. In muscle tissue, it serves as a major component of the endomysium. Collagen constitutes 1% to 2% of muscle tissue and 6% by weight of skeletal muscle. The fibroblast is the most common cell creating collagen in animals. Gelatin, which is used in food and industry, is collagen that was irreversi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phenols
In organic chemistry, phenols, sometimes called phenolics, are a class of chemical compounds consisting of one or more hydroxyl groups (− O H) bonded directly to an aromatic hydrocarbon group. The simplest is phenol, . Phenolic compounds are classified as simple phenols or polyphenols based on the number of phenol units in the molecule. Phenols are both synthesized industrially and produced by plants and microorganisms. Properties Acidity Phenols are more acidic than typical alcohols. The acidity of the hydroxyl group in phenols is commonly intermediate between that of aliphatic alcohols and carboxylic acids (their pKa is usually between 10 and 12). Deprotonation of a phenol forms a corresponding negative phenolate ion or phenoxide ion, and the corresponding salts are called phenolates or phenoxides (aryloxides, according to the IUPAC Gold Book). Condensation with aldehydes and ketones Phenols are susceptible to electrophilic aromatic substitutions. Condensation with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
