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Ascidiacea
| Description | Ascidiacea (commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts) is a paraphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer "tunic" made of the polysaccharide cellulose. From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascidiacea, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source Data |
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| Rank | class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Ascidiacea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
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| Common Name | sea squirt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scientific Name | Ascidiacea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
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| Status (PBDB) | extant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Extant Size (PBDB) | 1 (6.3%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 272 - 269 Ma Permian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | stationary, attached (based on Urochordata) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diet | suspension feeder (based on Urochordata) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | D.-G. Shu, L. Chen, and J. Han, X.-L. Zhang. 2001. An Early Cambrian tunicate from China. Nature 411:472-473 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Name(s) | Sea Squirt, Ascidias, Ascidies, Ascidis, Ascídias, Manteldieren, Meritupet, Sea Squirts, Seescheiden, Sjöpungar, Søpunge, Zakpijpen, żachwy, איצטלנים, ホヤ, Tuniqués Sessiles, Ascídia, Ascidians, Sessile Tunicates | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascidiacea |
External Images
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
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| Aplousobranchia order | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Khmeriamorpha ✝ order | listed (PBDB) | 25 | 272 Ma Permian | 235 Ma Late/Upper Triassic | |
| Phlebobranchia order | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Stolidobranchia order | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Melgulidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Micrascidites genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Palaeobotryllus genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Yarnemia genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
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| 1995 | Ascidiacea Nielsen |
| 2001 | Ascidiacea Shu et al. p. 472 |
| 2018 | Ascidiacea Wendt p. 587 |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
