A large family of small crustaceans (ostracods or seed shrimp) found in freshwater and marine environments worldwide, characterized by a bivalve shell.
A taxonomic family name following Linnaean binomial nomenclature rules, derived from the genus Cypris. Latin -idae is the standard suffix for animal family names.
Cyprididae fossils are so abundant and preserved so perfectly in sedimentary rocks that geologists use them as index fossils—entire geological time periods are defined partly by which cypridid species are present, making these microscopic creatures crucial to understanding Earth's history.
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