Sapphirinidae
Family of crustaceans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sapphirinidae is a family of parasitic copepods in the order Cyclopoida.[1]
| Sapphirinidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Sapphirina darwinii with egg cases | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Copepoda |
| Order: | Cyclopoida |
| Suborder: | Ergasilida |
| Family: | Sapphirinidae Thorell, 1859 |
| Genera | |
|
See text | |
Description
Males come in a variety of bright and flashy colors. In contrast, the females are transparent. The reason for this sexual dimorphism is that males need to attract the attention of females in order to mate.[2]
Genera
The family Sapphirinidae consists of the following genera:[1]
- Copilia Dana, 1849
- Sapphirina J. Thompson, 1830
- Vettoria C. B. Wilson, 1924
