Thecostraca
| Thecostraca | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A barnacle, subclass cirripedia | |
 | |
| A dendrogaster, subclass Ascothoracida | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Superclass: | Multicrustacea |
| Class: | Thecostraca Gruvel, 1905 |
| Subclasses | |
Thecostraca is a large class of crustaceans containing the barnacles, the parasitic Ascothoracida, and the mysterious facetotecta. The members of this class have weird lifecycles, most barnacles glue themselfs to a rock and build a calcium wall around themselfs while the members of Ascothoracida are parasitic with some species entering echinoderms shedding thier eyes and swimming legs. There is over 2,200 species in this class. The larvae of many species in this group are considered zooplankton.
Facetotecta
[change | change source]Facetotecea is the most mysterious Subclass of this group. It contains one family, Hansenocarididae and is only know from its larvae called y-nauplius and its cyprid larvae called the y-cyprid. No adults of Facetotecta have been found yet but the adult is thought to be parasitic.
