Chelonibia
Genus of barnacles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chelonibia is a genus of acorn barnacles in the family Chelonibiidae of the subphylum Crustacea.[1] Its members are epizootic and live attached to manatees, turtles, marine molluscs, crabs and horseshoe crabs in all tropical and subtropical oceans.[2] In a few instances, they have been found on sea snakes,[3] alligators[4] and inanimate substrates,[5] but they are not found in the typical habitats of barnacles – on rocks, docks or boats.
| Chelonibia Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Chelonibia patula on the blue crab Callinectes sapidus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Thecostraca |
| Subclass: | Cirripedia |
| Order: | Balanomorpha |
| Superfamily: | Coronuloidea |
| Family: | Chelonibiidae Pilsbry, 1916 |
| Subfamily: | Chelonibiinae |
| Genus: | Chelonibia Leach, 1817 |
Phylogeny
Fossils
Species
The genus contains four extant species:[8][9]
- Chelonibia caretta (Spengler, 1790)
- Chelonibia manati Gruvel, 1903
- Chelonibia patula (Ranzani, 1818)
- Chelonibia testudinaria (Linnaeus, 1758)
Recent molecular genetic work suggests that three of the species, Chelonibia manati, C. patula and C. testudinaria, are all the same species. Depending on the host species, they develop plastically very distinct morphology but cannot be distinguished on the genetic level.[10]
Three species are only known from the fossil record:
- Chelonibia capellini de Alessandri, 1895
- Chelonibia depressa Seguenza, 1876
- Chelonibia hemisphaerica Rothpletz & Simonelli, 1890