Chelonibia Explained

Chelonibia is a genus of acorn barnacles in the family Chelonibiidae of the subphylum Crustacea. Its members are epizootic and live attached to manatees, turtles, marine molluscs, crabs and horseshoe crabs in all tropical and subtropical oceans.[1] In a few instances, they have been found on sea snakes,[2] alligators[3] and inanimate substrates,[4] but they are not found in the typical habitats of barnacles – on rocks, docks or boats.

Phylogeny

They appear to be the sister group to the Balanidae.[5]

Fossils

The fossil record of Chelonibia ranges back to the Miocene.[6]

Species

The genus contains four extant species:[7] [8]

Recent molecular genetic work suggests that three of the species, Chelonibia manati, C. patula and C. testudinaria, are all the same species. Depending on the host species, they develop plastically very distinct morphology but cannot be distinguished on the genetic level.[9]

Three species are only known from the fossil record:

Notes and References

  1. Newman. William A.. A. Ross. Revision of the balanomorph barnacles including a catalog of the species. San Diego Society of Natural History Memoirs. March 31, 1976. 9. 1–109.
  2. Badrudeen. M.. On the occurrence of the cirriped barnacle, Chelonibia patula (Ranzani) on the sea snake, Hydrophis cyanocintus (Daudin). Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series. 2000. 164. 25.
  3. Nifong. James. M. G. Frick. First record of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) as a host to the sea turtle barnacle (Chelonibia testudinaria). . 2012 . 10 . 3 . 557–560 . 10.1656/058.010.0316. 12626303.
  4. Frazier. J. G.. D. Margaritoulis. The occurrence of the barnacle, Chelonibia patula (Ranzani, 1818), on an inanimate substratum (Cirripedia, Thoracica) . . 1990 . 59 . 2 . 213–218 . 20104595 . 10.1163/156854090x00688.
  5. Perez-Losada . M. . M. Harp . J. T. Høeg . Y. Achituv . D. Jones . H. Watanabe . K. A. Crandall . The tempo and mode of barnacle evolution . . 2008 . 46 . 1 . 328–346 . 18032070 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2007.10.004 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101122191550/http://crandalllab.byu.edu/Portals/20/docs/publications/Losada-Crandall_MPE08.pdf . 2010-11-22 .
  6. Harzhauser. M. . W. A. Newman . P. Grunert. A new Early Miocene barnacle lineage and the roots of sea-turtle fouling Chelonibiidae (Cirripedia, Balanomorpha). . 2011. 9. 4. 473–480 . 10.1080/14772019.2010.528053. 86354876 .
  7. Ryota Hayashi . 2012 . A checklist of turtle and whale barnacles (Cirripedia: Thoracica: Coronuloidea) . . 93. 10.1017/S0025315412000847 . 143–182. 83501299 .
  8. Benny K. K. Chan . 2012 . Chelonibia Leach, 1817 . 106128 . December 1, 2012.
  9. Cheang C . Tsang L . Chu K . Cheng I-J . Chan B. 2013 . Host-Specific Phenotypic Plasticity of the Turtle Barnacle Chelonibia testudinaria: A Widespread Generalist Rather than a Specialist . PLoS ONE. 8. 3. e57592 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0057592 . 23469208 . 3585910. 2013PLoSO...857592C . free .

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