Mictacea is a monotypic
order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
...
of
crustacean
Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...
s. It was originally erected for three species of small
shrimp
A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...
-like
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...
s of the deep sea and
anchialine caves.
They were placed in two families, the
Mictocarididae and
Hirsutiidae,
[ but Hirsutiidae is now placed in order Bochusacea, leaving Mictacea with a single species, '' Mictocaris halope''.
]
Description
Mictaceans have a brood pouch (marsupium) and biramous thoracic limbs, but lack a carapace
A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...
. They have eyestalks but "no functioning visual elements".
History
The existence of animals resembling the Mictacea had been predicted by Frederick Schram in the early 1980s.
Two groups of scientists independently discovered the animals in 1985, and, once they learnt of each other's work, agreed to work together on the paper describing the new order.
Species
A single species is recognised:
; Mictocarididae Bowman & Iliffe, 1985
*'' Mictocaris halope'' Bowman & Iliffe, 1985
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1058220
Malacostraca
Crustacean orders