''Atubaria heterolopha'' is a species of

hemichordate 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 incl ...

s in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus ''Atubaria'' and in the monotypic family Atubaridae. This taxon belongs to the

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 w ...

n order

Cephalodiscida Cephalodiscida is one of two orders in the class Pterobranchia, which are small, worm-shaped animals. Members belong to the hemichordata, hemichordates. Species in this order are Sessility (zoology), sessile, living in clear water and secretion, ...

. It was described by Tadao Sato in 1936 from specimens found feeding on a colony of the

hydrozoa Hydrozoa (hydrozoans; from Ancient Greek ('; "water") and ('; "animals")) is a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class (biology), class of individually very small, predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most of which inhabit saline wat ...

n '' Dycoryne conferta'' in

Sagami Bay lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the i ...

, Japan.

Description

The characteristics of this pterobranch species include a 1–5 mm long

zooid A zooid or zoöid is an animal that is part of a colonial animal. This lifestyle has been adopted by animals from separate unrelated taxa. Zooids are multicellular; their structure is similar to that of other solitary animals. The zooids can ...

, a collar with four pairs of tentaculated arms, a single pair of

pharyngeal slit Pharyngeal slits are Filter feeder, filter-feeding organs found among deuterostomes. Pharyngeal slits are repeated openings that appear along the pharynx caudal to the mouth. With this position, they allow for the movement of water in the mouth a ...

s, and a solitary and sedentary behaviour. It closely resembles ''

Cephalodiscus ''Cephalodiscus'' is a genus of hemichordates in the monotypic family Cephalodiscidae of the order Cephalodiscida. Description All known species live in a secreted coenecium attached to a rock substrate. Unlike ''Rhabdopleura'', ''Cephalodiscu ...

'' members.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q3827927 Pterobranchia Animals described in 1936