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World Cumacea Database
Citable as data publication
Watling, L.; Gerken, S. (2024). World Cumacea Database. Accessed at https://www.marinespecies.org/cumacea on yyyy-mm-dd. https://doi.org/10.14284/354
Contact: Watling, Les

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Archived data
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Archived file:
Availability: Creative Commons License This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Description
A world checklist of Cumacea, compiled by taxonomic experts and based on peer-reviewed literature. more

Cumaceans are small crustaceans, generally 1-10mm in size, which occur from tidal to abyssal depths in marine (and brackish) waters throughout the world. They are found in the first few cms of sand or sand/mud substrates; while they may be locally abundant, their distributions are patchy. Cumaceans feed on microorganisms and organic matter and are, in turn, consumed by bottom feeding organisms including a number of fishes.

These malacostracans are distinguished by a combination of features including a large carapace which covers many thorasic somites, a narrow, long abdomen, a forked tail, and, in many families, a telson. The sexes are conspicuously dimorphic: females lack pleopods (with one exception, of course!) and have a large brood chamber. The carapace is ornamented in many lineages and appendages are generally highly modified. The morphology of cumaceans is sufficiently distinctive that members of the order are easy to recognize.


Scope
Themes:
Biology, Biology > Ecology - biodiversity, Biology > Invertebrates
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, Brackish water, Classification, Marine invertebrates, Species, Taxonomy, World Waters, Cumacea

Geographical coverage
World Waters [Marine Regions]

Temporal coverage
From 1758 on [In Progress]

Taxonomic coverage
Cumacea [WoRMS]

Parameters
Taxonomy

Contributors
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), moredatabase developer
Watling, Lesdata creatordata managertaxonomic editor
Gerken, Sarahdata creatortaxonomic editor

Related datasets
Published in:
WoRMS: World Register of Marine Species, more

Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Literature research
Metadatarecord created: 2005-07-15
Information last updated: 2024-01-17
All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy
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