Rhabdopleurida is one of three orders in the class Pterobranchia, which are small, worm-shaped animals, and the only surviving graptolites. Members belong to the hemichordates. Species in this order are sessile, colonial, connected with a stolon, living in clear water and secrete tubes called tubarium. They have a single gonad, the gill slits are absent and the collar has two tentaculated arms. Rhabdopleura is the best studied pterobranch in developmental biology.
Genera
The family contains a single extant genus, Rhabdopleura. Based on Maletz (2018), the following genera are recognised in the family Rhabdopleuridae:
Order Rhabdopleurida <small>Fowler, 1892</small>
- Family Rhabdopleuridae <small>Harmer, 1905</small>
- Genus Rhabdopleura <small>Allman in Norman, 1869</small>
- Genus â Archaeolafoea <small>Chapman, 1919</small>
- Genus â Chaunograptus <small>Hall, 1882</small>
- Genus â Sokoloviina <small>Kirjanov, 1968</small>
- Genus â Epigraptus <small>Eisenack, 1941</small>
- Genus â Graptovermis <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1949</small>
- Genus â Haplograptus <small>Ruedemann, 1933</small>
- Genus â Kystodendron <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1959</small>
- Genus â Rhabdopleurites <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1967</small>
- Genus â Rhabdopleuroides <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1961</small>
- Genus â Sphenoecium <small>Chapman & Thomas, 1936</small>
- Genus â Stolonodendrum <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1949</small>
Genera interpreted as possible stolons of members of Rhabdopleuridae:
- Genus â Calyxhydra <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1959</small>
- Genus â Chitinodendron <small>Eisenack, 1937</small>
- Genus â Diplohydra <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1959</small>
- Genus â Flexihydra <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1959</small>
- Genus â Lagenohydra <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1959</small>
- Genus â Palaeokylix <small>Eisenack, 1932</small>
- Genus â Palaeotuba <small>Eisenack, 1934</small>
- Genus â Phragmohydra <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1959</small>
- Genus â Rhabdohydra <small>KozÃ
Âowski, 1959</small>
References
- Marinespecies.org
- ITIS.gov
- Hayward, P.J.; Ryland, J.S. (Ed.) (1990). The marine fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe: 1. Introduction and protozoans to arthropods. Clarendon Press: Oxford, UK. . 627 pp.