Decapods of Iowa (Part I)

Authors

Gary Phillips, University of Northern IowaFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Decapods are a fascinating group of animals which inhabit most aquatic environments in Iowa. As they are secretive, their habits are not well known. However, they play an important role in Iowa's aquatic communities and are worthy of more attention by biology teachers and their students. Decapods are members of the class Crustacea, a group of arthropods with gills and heavy, crust-like exoskeletons. Crustaceans include such diverse forms as the microscopic water fleas and copepods, the larger sowbugs and amphipods and the more familiar decapods such as crayfish and river shrimp. All decapods have ten walking legs. In Iowa, decapods are represented by seven species in the crayfish family (Cambaridae) and one species in the river shrimp family (Palaemonidae).

Publication Date

December 1978

Journal Title

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Volume

15

Issue

3

First Page

18

Last Page

21

Copyright

© Copyright 1978 by the Iowa Academy of Science

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Phillips, Gary (1978) "Decapods of Iowa (Part I)," Iowa Science Teachers Journal: Vol. 15: No. 3, Article 9.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/istj/vol15/iss3/9