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Limnonathia, drawing.tif
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
(unranked): Platyzoa
Phylum: Gnathifera
Class: Micrognathozoa
Order: Limnognathida
Family: Limnognathiidae
Genus: Limnognathia
Species: L. maerski
Binomial name
Limnognathia maerski
Kristensen & Funch, 2000

Limnognathia maerski is a microscopic animal, discovered living in homothermic springs on Disko Island, Greenland in 1994, that has variously been assigned as a class or subphylum in the phylum Gnathifera or as a phylum in a Gnathifera superphylum, named Micrognathozoa. It is related to the rotifers and gnathostomulids, grouped together as the Gnathifera.[1][2] With an average length of one-tenth of a millimetre, it is one of the smallest animals known.

L. maerski has very complicated jaws, with fifteen separate elements. The parts of the jaw structure are connected by ligaments and muscles. The jaw parts are very small, ranging from 4 μm to 14 μm. The animal can extend part of its jaw structure outside of its mouth while eating. It also extends much of its jaw structure outside of its mouth when it is regurgitating items that are indigestible.

L. maerski has a large ganglion, or 'brain', in its head, and paired nerve cords extending ventrally (along the lower side of the body) towards the tail. Stiff sensory bristles made up of one to three cilia are scattered about the body. These bristles are similar to ones found on gnathostomulids, but up to three cilia may arise from a single cell in L. maerski, while gnathostomulids never have more than one cilium per cell.



