Girdle Wearers: Loricifera

Girdle wearers are 0.008 to 0.02 inch (200 to 400 micrometers) long. The body is divided into five sections: a mouth cone, a head that can be drawn into the body, a neck, a thorax, and an abdomen. The mouth cone consists of six to 16 ridges and a tube. Some girdle wearers have six sharp spears in the mouth. The head consists of nine rows of spines used for movement and sensing. The neck consists of three rows of plates with 15 plates in each row and 15 spines. The thorax has no spines.

The abdomen consists of an armored band, or girdle, with six to ten strong plates or 22 to 40 folds. There are sense organs toward the rear of the abdomen. Girdle wearers have a digestive system, a reproductive system, a simple waste-removal system, a complex muscular system, and a nervous system with a large brain and a nerve cord with groups of nerve cells outside the brain.