Further steps in systematics, biology and ecology of the phylum Kinorhyncha

Abstract

The phylum Kinorhyncha encompasses a group of exclusively marine and estuarine, holobenthic, free-living, ecdysozoan invertebrates that are part of the meiofaunal communities. Meiofauna is a widely applied term that refers to those animal taxa intermediate in body size between the macrofauna and the microbes that pass by a 1 mm sieve but are retained in a 42 μm sieve. This range of body size makes the meiofaunal component of marine benthos inhabit the small crevices and interstices of the ocean floor sediment grains. Thus, the meiofaunal communities in general and the kinorhynch populations in particular, are strongly influenced by the features of the marine sediment in which they inhabit. Kinorhynchs are worldwide distributed from the intertidal zone to hadal depths, and may be found in a great variety of marine and estuarine sediments...