Bdelloidea (lat.) - a subclass of rotifers from the class Eurotatoria [1] . Move by swimming or crawling. In the second case, they move, alternately rearranging the head and tail, as leeches do, which is why they got their name ( ancient Greek βδΡλλα - βleechβ). Include about 300 species.
| Bdelloidea |
Some of the Bdelloidea species and their jaw structure |
| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetric |
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| International Scientific Name |
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Bdelloidea Hudson, 1884 |
| Families [1] |
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- Adinetidae Hudson & Gosse, 1886
- Habrotrochidae Harring, 1913
- Philodinidae Ehrenberg, 1838
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Bdelloidea live in fresh water, wet moss and moist soil. Can withstand drought in a dehydrated state. When moistened, they are restored and include in their DNA the genes of eaten organisms - animals, plants, fungi and bacteria - which allowed these rotifers to go without sexual reproduction for millions of years [2] [3] . Each individual carries a pair of gonads .
The closest relatives are scrapers , which are treated as a separate type [4] [5] .
