Cafeteria (bicosoecid)
Encyclopedia
Cafeteria is a genus of marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 bicosoecid described in 1988 by Tom Fenchel
Tom Fenchel
Tom Michael Fenchel is a Danish marine ecologist and professor first at the University of Aarhus, later at the University of Copenhagen. He is a highly cited scientist and known for, among other things, Fenchel's Law. He holds PhD and D.Sc...

 and D.J. Patterson. It was created after the discovery of a new species Cafeteria roenbergensis
Cafeteria roenbergensis
Cafeteria roenbergensis is a marine Bicosoecid described in 1988 by Tom Fenchel and D.J. Patterson. It is the first known species of Cafeteria.-Description:...

, a tiny (5-10 µm) eukaryotic organism that is eaten by protozoa
Protozoa
Protozoa are a diverse group of single-cells eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement...

 and small invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...

s. The name is meant to indicate the importance of the genus in the food web
Food web
A food web depicts feeding connections in an ecological community. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one of two categories called trophic levels: 1) the autotrophs, and 2) the heterotrophs...

.
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