Corallovexiidae
Encyclopedia
Corallovexiidae is a family
of parasitic copepod
s. They are associated with coral
s and, together with members of the family Asterocheridae, dominate their ecological niche
in the West Indies; in the Indo-Pacific
, they are replaced by the families Lichomolgidae and Xarifiidae.
The family contains two genera and 10 species, all described by Jan Hendrik Stock in 1975:
Corallonoxia Stock, 1975
Corallovexia Stock, 1975
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of parasitic copepod
Copepod
Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...
s. They are associated with coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
s and, together with members of the family Asterocheridae, dominate their ecological niche
Ecological niche
In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other; e.g. a dolphin could potentially be in another ecological niche from one that travels in a different pod if the members of these pods utilize significantly different food...
in the West Indies; in the Indo-Pacific
Indo-Pacific
The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia...
, they are replaced by the families Lichomolgidae and Xarifiidae.
The family contains two genera and 10 species, all described by Jan Hendrik Stock in 1975:
Corallonoxia Stock, 1975
- Corallonoxia baki Stock, 1975
- Corallonoxia longicauda Stock, 1975
Corallovexia Stock, 1975
- Corallovexia brevibrachium Stock, 1975
- Corallovexia dorsospinosa Stock, 1975
- Corallovexia kristenseni Stock, 1975
- Corallovexia longibrachium Stock, 1975
- Corallovexia mediobrachium Stock, 1975
- Corallovexia mixtibrachium Stock, 1975
- Corallovexia similis Stock, 1975
- Corallovexia ventrospinosa Stock, 1975