iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Lophophore

Enlarge picture
Freshwater bryozoan with lophophore extended
The lophophore is a characteristic feeding organ possessed by three major groups of animals: the Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, and Phoronida. All lophophores are aquatic. It can most easily be described as a ring of ciliated tentacles surrounding the mouth, but it is often horseshoe-shaped or coiled. Phoronids have their lophophores in plain view, but brachiopods must be opened wide to get a good view of their lophophore.

The lophophore surrounds the mouth and is an upstream collecting system for suspension feeding. Its tentacles are hollow with extensions of a coelomic space thought to be a mesocoel. The gut is U-shaped with the anterior mouth at the center of the lophophore. The anus is also anterior, but is dorsal to the mouth, outside the ring of the lophophore.

Groups with lophophores are called lophophorates. They were traditionally considered a monophyletic group, but it now appears they are also related to phyla such as the Mollusca and Annelida, together forming the Lophotrochozoa.
Brachiopoda
Duméril, 1806

Diversity
About 4000 genera

Subphyla and classes
See Classification

Brachiopods (from Latin bracchium, arm + New Latin -poda, foot) are a nearly extinct, small phylum of benthic invertebrates.
..... Click the link for more information.
Bryozoa

Classes
Stenolaemata
Gymnolaemata
Phylactolaemata

Bryozoans are tiny colonial animals that generally build stony skeletons of calcium carbonate, superficially similar to coral.
..... Click the link for more information.
Phoronida
Hatschek, 1888

Genera

Phoronis
Phoronopsis
Phoronids ('Phoronida'), commonly known as horseshoe worms, are a relatively small animal phylum: twenty species are known, in two genera, Phoronis
..... Click the link for more information.
cilium (plural cilia) is an organelle found in eukaryotic cells. Cilia are thin, tail-like projections extending approximately 5–10 micrometers outwards from the cell body.
..... Click the link for more information.
body cavity is any fluid filled space in a multicellular organism. However, the term usually refers to the space, located between an animal’s outer covering (epidermis) and the outer lining of the gut cavity, where internal organs develop.
..... Click the link for more information.
anus (from Latin ānus "ring, anus") is the external opening of the rectum. Closure is controlled by sphincter muscles. Feces are expelled from the body through the anus during the act of defecation, which is the primary function of the anus.
..... Click the link for more information.
In phylogenetics, a group is monophyletic (Greek: "of one race") if it consists of an inferred common ancestor and all its descendants. A taxonomic group that contains organisms but not their common ancestor is called polyphyletic, and a group that contains some but not all
..... Click the link for more information.
Mollusca
Linnaeus, 1758

Classes

Caudofoveata
Aplacophora
Polyplacophora
Monoplacophora
Bivalvia
Scaphopoda
Gastropoda
Cephalopoda
† Rostroconchia
† Helcionelloida
† ?Bellerophontida
The molluscs
..... Click the link for more information.
Annelida
Lamarck, 1809

Classes and subclasses

Class Polychaeta (paraphyletic?)
Class Clitellata*
   Oligochaeta - earthworms, etc.
..... Click the link for more information.
Lophotrochozoa

Phyla
  • Amiskwia (incertae sedis)
  • Nemertea
  • Phoronida
  • Bryozoa
  • Entoprocta
  • Brachiopoda
  • Sipuncula
  • Hyolitha †
  • Mollusca
  • Annelida
  • Echiura


The Lophotrochozoa
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter