{{Short description|Family of tunicates}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Oikopleura dioica.gif | image_caption= ''Oikopleura dioica'' | taxon = Oikopleuridae | authority = Lahille, 1887<ref>Etude systématique des tuniciers. F Lahille, 1887</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies, tribes and genera | subdivision = * Bathochordaeinae <small>Lohmann, 1915</small> ** ''Bathochordaeus'' <small>Chun, 1900</small> ** ''Mesochordaeus'' <small>Fenaux & Youngbluth, 1990</small> * Oikopleurinae <small>Lohmann, 1896</small> ** Alabiata <small>Fenaux, 1993</small> *** ''Althoffia'' <small>Lohmann, 1892</small> *** ''Mesoikopleura'' <small>Fenaux, 1993</small> *** ''Pelagopleura'' <small>Lohmann, 1926</small> *** ''Sinisteroffia'' <small>Tokioka, 1957</small> ** Labiata <small>Fenaux, 1993</small> *** ''Chunopleura'' <small>Lohmann, 1914</small> *** ''Folia'' <small>Lohmann, 1892</small> *** ''Megalocercus'' <small>Chun, 1887</small> *** ''Oikopleura'' <small>Mertens, 1830</small> *** ''Stegosoma'' <small>Chun, 1887</small> | synonyms = }}

'''Oikopleuridae''' is a family of larvacean tunicates. A comparatively species-rich family, it has been especially well-researched thanks to the ubiquity of ''Oikopleura dioica'' as a model species. It comprises two subfamilies, Bathochordaeinae and Oikopleurinae, itself divided into the tribes Alabiata and Labiata.<ref>{{cite book|title=The biology of pelagic tunicates|chapter=Appendicularian distribution and zoogeography|editor-last1=Bone|editor-first1=Q.|publisher=Oxford University Press|last1=Fenaux|first1=R.|last2=Bone|first2=Q.|last3=Deibel|first3=D.|date=1998|pages=251–264}}</ref>

It is believed to be sister to the clade formed by the two other families (Fritillariidae and Kowalevskiidae), united by common derived characteristics lacking in Oikopleuridae.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Alimentary tract of Kowalevskiidae (Appendicularia, Tunicata) and evolutionary implications|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmor.10145|journal=Journal of Morphology|doi=10.1002/jmor.10145|date=31 July 2003|last1=Brena|first1=Carlo|last2=Cima|first2=Francesca|last3=Burighel|first3=Paolo|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}} * Van der Land, J. (2001). Appendicularia, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp.&nbsp;356 * Fenaux, R., Q. Bone, and D. Deibel. 1998. Appendicularian distribution and zoogeography, p.&nbsp;251-264. In q. Bone [ed.], The biology of pelagic tunicates. Oxford University Press.

== External links == {{Commons}} {{Wikispecies}}

{{Tunicata|T.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q10571698}}

Category:Oikopleuridae Category:Tunicate families

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