Priapulida
/ˌprʌɪəˈpjʊlɪdə
/plural noun Zoology
A small phylum of burrowing worm-like marine invertebrates which have a thick body, a large eversible proboscis, and a terminal tail.They concluded that Gastrotricha is the sister-taxon of a monophyletic clade comprising Nematoda, Nematomorpha, Priapulida, Kinorhyncha and Loricifera....
- Loricifera, Priapulida, and Kinorhyncha are unequivocally assumed to be most closely related and are, therefore, united in one group, named Scalidophora first by Lemburg.
- The fine structure of the mouth cone, the introvert with scalids, and the circumenteric brain indicate that this meiofaunal phylum is monophyletic, related to Kinorhyncha and Priapulida.
Derivatives
priapulid
- Over twenty species of non-mineralized arthropods have been found in the Wheeler Shale, as well as annelids, priapulids, and other worms, and the swimming predator Anomalocaris.
- Instead, some pseudocoelomate animals, such as priapulids and nematodes, appear to be more closely related to arthropods, in a group termed Ecdysozoa.
- If this evolutionary interpretation is correct, this change in behavior marks the origin of infaunal priapulid worms from those crawling at the sediment surface with ventral appendages.
Origin
Modern Latin (plural), from Priapulus (genus name), diminutive of Priapus.