zwierzęta: Mantis shrimp

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Mantis shrimp are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (from Ancient Greek στόμα (stóma) 'mouth' and πούς (poús) 'foot'). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 400 million years ago, with more than 520 extant species of mantis shrimp known. All living species are in the suborder Unipeltata, which arose around 250 million years ago. They are among the most important predators in many shallow, tropical and subtropical marine habitats. Despite being common in their habitats, they are poorly understood, as many species spend most of their lives sheltering in burrows and holes. Dubbed "sea locusts" by ancient Assyrians, "prawn killers" in…

Evidence: 44 • authority: 72

Nodosculda is an extinct genus of mantis shrimp that lived in North America during the late Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous period, between 105 and 100 million years ago. The only species is Nodosculda fisherorum, known from several specimens uncovered in the Paw Paw Formation of Texas.

Evidence: 31 • authority: 72

Krill (Euphausiids) (sing.: krill) are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, found in all of the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian word krill, meaning "small fry of fish", which is also often attributed to species of fish. Krill are considered an important trophic level connection near the bottom of the food chain. They feed on phytoplankton and, to a lesser extent, zooplankton, and are also the main source of food for many larger animals. In the Southern Ocean, one species, the Antarctic krill, makes up an estimated biomass of around 379 million tonnes (418 million tons), making it among the species with the largest total biomass. Over…

Evidence: 28 • authority: 80

Rocks hold clues about how falling sea levels caused havoc 400 million years ago

Evidence: 28 • authority: 80

The world’s first environmental clean-up happened 400 million years ago

Evidence: 25 • authority: 92

Insect-Like Organization of the Stomatopod Central Complex: Functional and Phylogenetic Implications.. One approach to investigating functional attributes of the central complex is to relate its various elaborations to pancrustacean phylogeny, to taxon-specific behavioral repertoires and ecological settings. Here we review morphological similarities between the central complex of stomatopod crustaceans and the central complex of dicondylic insects. We discuss whether their central complexes possess comparable functional properties, despite the phyletic distance separating these taxa, with mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) belonging to the basal branch of Eumalacostraca. Stomatopods possess the mo…

Evidence: 25 • authority: 72

Sculda (after Skuld from Norse mythology) is an extinct genus of mantis shrimp known from the late Jurassic to late Cretaceous of Germany and Lebanon. Although several species have been assigned to it, some are now deemed dubious or moved to different genera. It was a moderate-sized crustacean, measuring no more than 50 mm (2.0 in) long. Sculda would have lived in a marine environment and been a predatory animal, likely smashing its prey with the widened segment of its raptorial appendages before cutting it with the sharp appendage tips. The genus was first named in 1840 by Georg zu Münster, based on fossils collected from the Solnhofen Limestone of Bavaria, Germany. It was the first Mesozo…

Evidence: 25 • authority: 72

A shrimp (pl.: shrimp (US) or shrimps (UK)) is a common name typically used for crustaceans with an elongated body and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion. The name usually refers to decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchiata, although some crustaceans outside this order are also referred to as "shrimp". More narrow definitions may be restricted to Caridea, to smaller species of either of the aforementioned groups, or only the marine species. Under a broader definition, shrimp may be synonymous with prawn, covering stalk-eyed swimming crustaceans with long, narrow muscular tails (abdomens), long whiskers (antennae), and slender, biramous legs. They swim forward by paddling th…