Rubicundus

Rubicundus is a genus of hagfishes, the only member of the subfamily Rubicundinae. All species in it were formerly classified in Eptatretus. R. eos, R. lakeside, and R. rubicundus are known from single specimens caught in the Tasman Sea, Galápagos, and Taiwan, respectively. They are named after the distinctive red coloration that all species share.

Rubicundus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Infraphylum: Agnatha
Class: Myxini
Order: Myxiniformes
Family: Myxinidae
Subfamily: Rubicundinae
Fernholm et al., 2013
Genus: Rubicundus
Fernholm et al, 2013
Type species
Rubicundus rubicundus
(Kuo, Lee & Mok 2010)
Species

See text

They are considered the most basal extant lineage of hagfishes, and may represent the sister group to the Cretaceous fossil hagfish Tethymyxine, from which they potentially diverged during the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous. Both the Rubicundinae and Tethymyxine share an elongate snout, indented barbels, and numerous slime glands.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.