For most of the year, Leptodora reproduces , with males only appearing late in the season, to produce winter eggs which hatch the following spring. Leptodora is the only genus in its family, the Leptodoridae, and suborder, Haplopoda.
Das Weibchen ist in so hohem Grade durchsichtig, in wahrem Sinne »wasserhell», dass oft nur die Bewegungen ihr Dasein in dem Wasser verrathen. Bei auffallendem Sonnenlicht wird gewöhnlich der Schatten früher als das Thier selbst entdeckt.
The female is transparent to such a high degree, literally "as clear as water", that her presence is often only given away by her movements. In bright sunlight, the shadow is normally seen before the animal itself.
胸節的六對附肢形成一個「餵哺籃」，用以捕捉獵物[9]。
The second 觸角 are used for swimming, while the first antennae are 痕跡器官 in females but elongated in males, where they are used in 有性生殖.[6] There is a single large 複眼 which takes up much of the animal's head.[6] It comprises around 500 facet（英语：facet）s, which are spherically arranged, and the whole eye is movable by up to 10° in any direction.[10]
透明薄皮蚤是一種貪婪的捕食者，能夠控制其偏愛獵物的數量[12]，一般都是溞属（Daphnia）、Bosmina, Ceriodaphnia, Diaphanosoma, Diaptomus（英语：Diaptomus）, Polyphemus（英语：Polyphemus (genus)）及剑水蚤属（Cyclops）等各屬物種的幼體[6]。 It seems to encounter its prey by chance, with contact initiating a 反射 (生理学), in which the 腹 is brought forward to close the feeding basket. In many cases, the prey escapes this haphazard response. Juvenile Daphnia are slower than adults to respond to the predator's attack, and are therefore more likely to be caught.[13]
The most important predators of Leptodora are fishes, including 白鮭屬, perch, ziege（英语：ziege） and 歐白魚.[12]
Leptodora is so distinct from other cladocerans that some authors have suggested grouping all other cladocerans into a 演化支 called "Eucladocera", with Leptodora as its 姐妹群. It is now believed, however, that Leptodora is sister to Onychopoda（英语：Onychopoda）, being the only genus in the family Leptodoridae and the subclass Haplopoda.[16] Features which separate it from other families include its large size, the lack of branchial appendages (鳃s) on its legs, the reduction of the carapace, and the fact that the winter eggs hatch as nauplii.[6]
Taxonomic history
Leptodora was first found in the Bremer Stadtgraben, and described by the local scientist G. W. Focke.
Leptodora kindtii is "probably the only cladoceran ever described in a newspaper".[17] The German microscopist Gustav Woldemar Focke（英语：Gustav Woldemar Focke） organised a 學術研討會 in 不来梅 in 1844 together with the pharmacist Georg Christian Kindt. He studied the fauna of the ditches surrounding the city (the Bremer Stadtgraben) and displayed live specimens at the meeting. During the meeting, he also published a description of the species in the Weser-Zeitung on Sunday September 22, 1844, placing the species in the genus Polyphemus（英语：Polyphemus (genus)）.[17] However, this description was ignored by the scientific community, and Wilhelm Lilljeborg（英语：Wilhelm Lilljeborg） described the species in 1861 with the name Leptodora hyalina. The 異名 was not noticed until Simon Albrecht Poppe informed Lilljeborg of it in 1889,[17] and Lilljeborg corrected the error in his 1900 專著.[8]
The name Leptodora is from the 希腊语 words leptos and dora, collectively meaning thin-skinned.[19] The 种加词kindtii is presumed to refer to G. C. Kindt, who worked closely with Focke.[17] The alternative spelling kindti is sometimes encountered,[20] but is no longer considered correct under the 国际动物命名法规.[21] The epithet hyalina, used by Lilljeborg, is from the Greek ὕαλος, and means glassy（英语：hyaline）.[19]
^ 15.015.115.2Vijverberg, Jacobus; Koelewijn, Hans Peter. Effect of temperature on development and growth of the raptorial cladoceran Leptodora kindtii under laboratory conditions. Freshwater Biology. 2004, 49 (11): 1415–1422. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2004.01276.x（英语）.
