What makes Philodina unique?

Up to 500 micrometers in length when extended, Philodina species are motile and do not have shells. Resembling worms, with two anterior rotating wheel organs referred to as coronas, Philodina can move like leeches or inchworms, extending and contracting as they crawl over aquatic plants and detritus.

What is the importance of rotifers?

Rotifers are important in freshwater environments due to having one of the highest reproductive rate among metazoans, thus obtaining high population densities in short times, being dominant in many zooplanktonic communities. They act as links between the microbial community and the higher trophic levels.

Why are rotifers so unusual among animals?

Rotifers are highly variable in morphology (Fig. 1), but consistently possess an anterior region of hair-like cilia (called a corona) which is used for food collection and locomotion, a defined pharynx (the mastax), and hardened jaws (trophi) adapted for grasping, piercing, or grinding prey.

Do rotifers cause disease in humans?

There are no known adverse effects of rotifers on humans.

What does Philodina eat?

They eat things like detritus, and aid in nutrient recycling, making them useful to keep fish tanks clear. On the other side of things, they are eaten by creatures such as copepods, fish, jellyfish, and starfish.

How do Philodina reproduce?

Reproduction is solely by parthenogenesis (females producing only females), making rotifers of this class unique in the animal kingdom. Rotifers are extremely common and can be found in many freshwater environments and in moist soil, where they inhabit the thin films of water surrounding soil particles.

Is a rotifer an algae?

Rotifers have no nutritional value themselves, it is the algae they consume that provides this, the rotifers are in effect the transporters of nutrients to the larvae.

Why are rotifer called wheel animal?

rotifer, also called wheel animalcule, any of the approximately 2,000 species of microscopic, aquatic invertebrates that constitute the phylum Rotifera. Rotifers are so named because the circular arrangement of moving cilia (tiny hairlike structures) at the front end resembles a rotating wheel.

How does a rotifer travel through water?

Rotifers may be free swimming and truly planktonic, others move by inchworming along the substrate whilst some are sessile, living inside tubes or gelatinous holdfasts.

How does a rotifer eat?

Most rotifers are filter feeders. Their cilia on the coronae move to create a water flow and bring the food into the mouths.

What animals use parthenogenesis?

Most animals that procreate through parthenogenesis are small invertebrates such as bees, wasps, ants, and aphids, which can alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction. Parthenogenesis has been observed in more than 80 vertebrate species, about half of which are fish or lizards.