Tantulocarida

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Subclass of crustaceans

title: "Tantulocarida" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["maxillopoda", "parasitic-crustaceans", "arthropod-subclasses"] description: "Subclass of crustaceans" topic_path: "general/maxillopoda" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantulocarida" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Subclass of crustaceans ::

| image = Microdajus (10.1590-2358-2936e2021005) Figure 1.jpg | image_caption = Microdajus sp. | taxon = Tantulocarida | authority = G. A. Boxshall & R. J. Lincoln, 1983 | subdivision_ranks = Families | subdivision = *Basipodellidae

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

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. The larvae also possesses a cuticular stylet on the cephalon through which they can push a rootlet system for extraction of nutrients from a host. The rootlet system itself is a direct extension of the gut.

{{anchor|Body size}}Body length===

Members of this subclass are minute – less than 0.3 mm 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 um.

Life cycle

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: Basipodellidae Boxshall & Lincoln, 1983:

Doryphallophoridae Huys, 1991:

Microdajidae Boxshall & Lincoln, 1987:

References

References

  1. {{ITIS
  2. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Tantulocarida".
  3. Geoffrey A. Boxshall & Roger J. Lincoln. (February 1983). "Tantulocarida, a new class of Crustacea ectoparasitic on other crustaceans". [[Journal of Crustacean Biology]].
  4. (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.
  5. [https://books.google.com/books?id=x7vtCAAAQBAJ&dq=Tantulocarida+tantulus+larva+appendageless+abdomen+telson&pg=PA188 Multicellular Animals: Volume II: The Phylogenetic System of the Metazoa]
  6. Petrunina, Alexandra S.. (December 2018). "Anatomy of the Tantulocarida: first results obtained using TEM and CLSM. Part I: tantulus larva". Organisms Diversity & Evolution.
  7. "Tantulocarida". [[McGraw-Hill]].
  8. 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]].
  9. G. A. Boxshall & R. J. Lincoln. (June 11, 1987). "The life cycle of the Tantulocrida (Crustacea)". [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B]].
  10. (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.
  11. [https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/108632/3/i0289-0003-9-4-875.pdf Itoitantulus misophricola gen. et sp. nov.: First Record of Tantulocarida (Crustacea: Maxillopoda) in the North Pacific Region]
  12. (1993). "The Tantulocaridan Life Cycle: the Circle Closed?". Journal of Crustacean Biology.
  13. [https://www.gfbs-home.de/fileadmin/user_upload/ode2mods/ode/ode18/ode18_0459/article.pdf Anatomy of the Tantulocarida: first results obtained using TEM and CLSM. Part I: tantulus larva - GfBS]
  14. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PPnZAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+sexual+cycle+involves+a+unique+type+of+metamorphosis%22&pg=PA122 Atlas of Crustacean Larvae]
  15. "Tantulocarida".
  16. Geoff Boxshall. (August 20, 2008). "Basipodellidae". [[World Register of Marine Species]].
  17. Geoff Boxshall. (August 20, 2008). "Doryphallophoridae". [[World Register of Marine Species]].
  18. Geoff Boxshall. (August 20, 2008). "Microdajidae". [[World Register of Marine Species]].
  19. "Cumoniscidae Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis, 1923".
  20. Geoff Boxshall. (2012). "Onceroxenidae".

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