Gigantidas [SEP] parent taxon
Gigantidas
Gigantidas is a genus of large, deepwater, hydrothermal vent mussels, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae.
Distribution and habitat.
Species in this genus are found on deep-sea hydrothermal vents on the southern Kermadec Ridge. These mussels form dense beds at these sites.
Description.
The shells of "Gigantidas gladius" are up to 30 cm long.
Species.
Species within the genus "Gigantidas" include:
- "Gigantidas coseli"
- "Gigantidas gladius"
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of