Chirocephalus marchesonii
| Chirocephalus marchesonii | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Branchiopoda |
| Order: | Anostraca |
| Family: | Chirocephalidae |
| Genus: | Chirocephalus |
| Species: | C. marchesonii |
| Binomial name | |
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Chirocephalus marchesonii Ruffo & Vesentini, 1957 |
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Chirocephalus marchesonii is a species of fairy shrimp in the family Chirocephalidae. It is endemic to Lago di Pilato, a lake in the Province of Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy.
The Chirocephalus marchesonii was observed for the first time in 1954 by Vittorio Marchesoni, director of the Botanical Institute of the University of Camerino, during one of his excursions in the Sibillini Mountains. New samples were studied in 1957 by Ruffo and Vesentini, who established that it was a new species of crustacean. It was called Chirocephalus marchesonii in tribute to the first discoverer Vittorio Marchesoni.
The Chirocephalus marchesonii stands out easily from the others branchiopods thanks to its long body, approximately cylindric, just as the non-attendance of shell. The body, which presents an obvious metamerism, is divided in three sections, face, thorax equipped of eleven pairs of appendix/fins also having a breathing function, and the abdomen which contains the reproduction organs: an egg sac for the female, and two penises of same length for the male.
These crustaceans, which have for distinctive feature swimming on their backs, come under zooplankton. They move thanks to swinging moves of the appendixes of the rib cage. Their swimming position seems to derive from a positive phototropism.
The species is characterized by a coral red coloring. The size is included for both sexes between 9 and 12 mm.
The eggs produced are of a spherical shape and compared to the others similar species present in Italy (C. kerkyrensis, C. salinus, C. sibyllae, C. diaphanous and C. ruffoi) result from the ones of bigger dimension with an average diameter of 0.43 mm.
The Chirocephalus marchesonii has an anamorphic development where the embryo opens as Nauplius larva and the adult shape is touched after a series of gradual modifications of the physical morphology, and the new sections and appendix are gradually added. Its biological cycle is synchronized and purely dependent on the annual hydrological cycle of the Pilate Lake and regularly recurs in a time arch included between the beginning of June and the end of September.
One of the principal characteristics of the anostraca consists in their adaptability to environments subjected to strong seasonal stress. The environment is often made of temporary water pockets and of little aquatic ponds characterized by a total temporary lack of water and going through extreme phases (draining/freezing) and (or) by fluctuations of the water level and as a result by strong wavering of the physic-chemical factors.
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Wikipedia