For the genus of crane flies, see Ctenophora (fly).
Comb jellies
Temporal range: 540–0 Ma[1][2][3][4]
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"Ctenophorae" (comb jelly)
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Ctenophora Eschscholtz, 1829
Classes
Tentaculata
Nuda
†Scleroctenophora[5]
Ctenophora (/təˈnɒfərə/tə-NOF-ər-ə; sg.: ctenophore/ˈtɛnəfɔːr,ˈtiːnə-/TEN-ə-for, TEE-nə-; from Ancient Greek κτείς (kteis) 'comb', and φέρω (pherō) 'to carry')[6] comprise a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), and they are the largest animals to swim with the help of cilia.
Depending on the species, adult ctenophores range from a few millimeters to 1.5 m (5 ft) in size. Only 186 living species are currently recognised.[7]
Their bodies consist of a mass of jelly, with a layer two cells thick on the outside, and another lining the internal cavity. The phylum has a wide range of body forms, including the egg-shaped cydippids with a pair of retractable tentacles that capture prey, the flat generally combless platyctenids, and the large-mouthed beroids, which prey on other ctenophores.
Almost all ctenophores function as predators, taking prey ranging from microscopic larvae and rotifers to the adults of small crustaceans; the exceptions are juveniles of two species, which live as parasites on the salps on which adults of their species feed.
Despite their soft, gelatinous bodies, fossils thought to represent ctenophores appear in lagerstätten dating as far back as the early Cambrian, about 525 million years ago. The position of the ctenophores in the "tree of life" has long been debated in molecular phylogenetics studies. Biologists proposed that ctenophores constitute the second-earliest branching animal lineage, with sponges being the sister-group to all other multicellular animals (Porifera Sister Hypothesis).[8] Other biologists contend that ctenophores were emerging earlier than sponges (Ctenophora Sister Hypothesis), which themselves appeared before the split between cnidarians and bilaterians.[9][10] Pisani et al. reanalyzed the data and suggested that the computer algorithms used for analysis were misled by the presence of specific ctenophore genes that were markedly different from those of other species.[11][12] Follow up analysis by Whelan et al. (2017)[13] yielded further support for the Ctenophora Sister hypothesis, and the issue remains a matter of taxonomic dispute.[14][15] Schultz et al. (2023) found irreversible changes in synteny in the sister of the Ctenophora, the Myriazoa, consisting of the rest of the animals.[16]
^Chen, Jun-Yuan; Schopf, J. William; Bottjer, David J.; Zhang, Chen-Yu; Kudryavtsev, Anatoliy B.; Tripathi, Abhishek B.; Wang, Xiu-Qiang; Yang, Yong-Hua; Gao, Xiang; Yang, Ying (April 2007). "Raman spectra of a Lower Cambrian ctenophore embryo from southwestern Shaanxi, China". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 104 (15): 6289–6292. Bibcode:2007PNAS..104.6289C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0701246104. PMC 1847456. PMID 17404242.
^Cite error: The named reference Tang2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Stanley, G. D.; Stürmer, W. (9 June 1983). "The first fossil ctenophore from the Lower Devonian of West Germany". Nature. 303 (5917): 518–520. Bibcode:1983Natur.303..518S. doi:10.1038/303518a0. S2CID 4259485.
^Conway Morris, S.; Collins, D. H. (29 March 1996). "Middle Cambrian Ctenophores from the Stephen Formation, British Columbia, Canada". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 351 (1337): 279–308. Bibcode:1996RSPTB.351..279C. doi:10.1098/rstb.1996.0024.
^Shu, Degan; Zhang, Zhifei; Zhang, Fang; Sun, Ge; Han, Jian; Xiao, Shuhai; Ou, Qiang (July 2015). "A vanished history of skeletonization in Cambrian comb jellies". Science Advances. 1 (6): e1500092. Bibcode:2015SciA....1E0092O. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1500092. PMC 4646772. PMID 26601209.
^Fowler, George Herbert (1911). "Ctenophora" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 593.
^WoRMS Editorial Board (2024), World Register of Marine Species. Accessed 2019-09-18., VLIZ, retrieved 19 February 2024
^Simion, Paul; Philippe, Hervé; Baurain, Denis; Jager, Muriel; Richter, Daniel J.; DiFranco, Arnaud; Roure, Béatrice; Satoh, Nori; Quéinnec, Éric; Ereskovsky, Alexander; Lapébie, Pascal; Corre, Erwan; Delsuc, Frédéric; King, Nicole; Wörheide, Gert; Manuel, Michaël (2017). "A Large and Consistent Phylogenomic Dataset Supports Sponges as the Sister Group to All Other Animals". Current Biology. 27 (7): 958–967. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.031. PMID 28318975.
^Dunn, Casey W.; Hejnol, Andreas; Matus, David Q.; Pang, Kevin; Browne, William E.; Smith, Stephen A.; Seaver, Elaine; Rouse, Greg W.; Obst, Matthias; Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Sørensen, Martin V.; Haddock, Steven H. D.; Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas; Okusu, Akiko; Kristensen, Reinhardt Møbjerg; Wheeler, Ward C.; Martindale, Mark Q.; Giribet, Gonzalo (2008). "Broad phylogenomic sampling improves resolution of the animal tree of life". Nature. 452 (7188): 745–749. Bibcode:2008Natur.452..745D. doi:10.1038/nature06614. PMID 18322464. S2CID 4397099.
^Baxevanis, Andreas D.; Martindale, Mark Q.; Mullikin, James C.; Wolfsberg, Tyra G.; Dunn, Casey W.; Haddock, Steven H. D.; Putnam, Nicholas H.; Smith, Stephen A.; Havlak, Paul; Francis, Warren R.; Koch, Bernard J.; Simmons, David K.; Moreland, R. Travis; Nguyen, Anh-Dao; Schnitzler, Christine E.; Pang, Kevin; Ryan, Joseph F. (2013-12-13). "The Genome of the Ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi and its Implications for Cell Type Evolution". Science. 342 (6164): 1242592. doi:10.1126/science.1242592. PMC 3920664. PMID 24337300.
^Pisani, Davide; Pett, Walker; Dohrmann, Martin; Feuda, Roberto; Rota-Stabelli, Omar; Philippe, Hervé; Lartillot, Nicolas; Wörheide, Gert (2015). "Genomic data do not support comb jellies as the sister group to all other animals". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (50): 15402–15407. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11215402P. doi:10.1073/pnas.1518127112. PMC 4687580. PMID 26621703.
^Berwald, Juli (2017). Spineless: the science of jellyfish and the art of growing a backbone. Riverhead Books.[page needed]
^Cite error: The named reference Whelan2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Halanych, Kenneth M.; Whelan, Nathan V.; Kocot, Kevin M.; Kohn, Andrea B.; Moroz, Leonid L. (2016-02-09). "Miscues misplace sponges". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (8): E946-7. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113E.946H. doi:10.1073/pnas.1525332113. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4776479. PMID 26862177.
^Telford, Maximilian J.; Moroz, Leonid L.; Halanych, Kenneth M. (January 2016). "A sisterly dispute". Nature. 529 (7586): 286–287. doi:10.1038/529286a. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 26791714. S2CID 4447056.
^Schultz, Darrin T.; Haddock, Steven H. D.; Bredeson, Jessen V.; Green, Richard E.; Simakov, Oleg; Rokhsar, Daniel S. (2023-05-17). "Ancient gene linkages support ctenophores as sister to other animals". Nature. 618 (7963): 110–117. Bibcode:2023Natur.618..110S. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05936-6. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 10232365. PMID 37198475.
Ctenophora ornata is a true crane fly species in the genus Ctenophora. It is found in Europe. Die Fliegen, JW Meigen, 1818 GBIF. "Ctenophora ornata Meigen...
Ctenophora festiva is a true crane fly species in the genus Ctenophora. It is found in Europe. "Ctenophora festiva Meigen, 1804". www.gbif.org. Retrieved...
other animal lineages Ctenophora and Porifera is debated. Some phylogenomic studies have presented evidence supporting Ctenophora as the sister to Parahoxozoa...
animals, true jellies, sea anemones, sea pens, and their relatives) and Ctenophora (comb jellies). The name comes from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos) 'hollow'...
Commons has media related to Ctenophora elegans. Wikispecies has information related to Ctenophora (Ctenophora). Ctenophora elegans at insectoid.info v t e...
there is also an internal digestive chamber with either one opening (in Ctenophora, Cnidaria, and flatworms) or two openings (in most bilaterians). Nearly...
Ctenophora nubecula is a species of large crane fly in the family Tipulidae. "Ctenophora nubecula Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved...
animal clade consisting of the Porifera and ParaHoxozoa as sister of the Ctenophora. An alternative phylogeny is given by the Porifera-sister hypothesis in...
historical context. In the early 19th century, Georges Cuvier united Ctenophora and Cnidaria in the Radiata (Zoophytes). Thomas Cavalier-Smith, in 1983...
Somatina ctenophora is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in Kenya, Namibia and South Africa. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Somatina...
Ctenophora apicata is a species of large crane fly in the family Tipulidae. "Ctenophora apicata Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved...
because the large differences between Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria plus Ctenophora (comb jellies), Placozoa and Bilateria (all the more complex animals)...
Pleurobrachia is a common genus of Ctenophora(an exclusively marine phylum). Along with the genus Hormiphora, it generally has the common name sea gooseberry...
Megachile ctenophora is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae. It was described by Holmberg in 1886. "Megachile". BioLib. 2014. Retrieved 10 October...
organisms which develop from such a blastula, and include Cnidaria and Ctenophora, formerly grouped together in the phylum Coelenterata, but later understanding...
and celebrated examples of collocytes are those of the Ctenophora (comb jellies). The Ctenophora use their colloblasts or collocytes in hunting and gathering...
are not so primitive, but may instead be secondarily simplified. The Ctenophora and the Cnidaria, which includes sea anemones, corals, and jellyfish,...
example, in the Cnidaria tentilla usually bear cnidocytes, whereas in the Ctenophora they usually have collocytes. Siphonophores are an example of Cnidaria...
Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria (jellyfish, hydrae, sea anemones and corals), Ctenophora (comb jellies) and Placozoa (tiny "flat animals"). For the most part,...
symmetry are associated with nerve nets, and are found in members of the Ctenophora, Cnidaria, and Echinodermata phyla, all of which are found in marine environments...
but including only two species of sponge, suggested that comb jellies (ctenophora) are the most basal lineage of the Metazoa included in the sample. If...
Ctenophora Genus Abundance Notes Images Ctenorhabdotus 5 specimens This ctenophore had rows of cilia to help it swim in the water column. It had around...
sister group of Porifera (sponges). The basal eumetazoan clades are the Ctenophora and the ParaHoxozoa. Placozoa is now also seen as a eumetazoan in the...