Furry lobster

This article is about the family Synaxidae. For the deep-sea decapod discovered in 2005, see Kiwaidae.

Furry lobster
Palinurellus gundlachi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Achelata
Family:	Palinuridae
Groups included
Palinurellus Palibythus

Furry lobsters (sometimes called coral lobsters) are small decapod crustaceans, closely related to the slipper lobsters and spiny lobsters. ^[1] The antennae are not as enlarged as in spiny and slipper lobsters, and the body is covered in short hairs, hence the name furry lobster. Although previously considered a family in their own right (Synaxidae Spence Bate, 1881), the furry lobsters were subsumed into the family Palinuridae in 1990. ^[2] Subsequent molecular phylogenetics studies have confirmed that the furry lobsters genera don't form a natural group and were both nested among the spiny lobster genera in family Palinuridae. ^[1] That family now includes the two furry lobster genera and ten spiny lobster genera. ^[3]

Taxonomy

There are two genera, with three species between them: ^[4]

• Phyllamphion elegansReinhardt, 1849 – mole lobster, with an Indo-Pacific distribution
• Phyllamphion gundlachi(Von Martens, 1878) – Caribbean furry lobster, found in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic coast of South America; named for Juan Gundlach
• Palibythus magnificus P. J. F. Davie, 1990 – musical furry lobster, from the South Pacific (originally described from Samoa)

References

1. Ferran Palero; Keith A. Crandall; Pere Abelló; Enrique Macpherson; Marta Pascual (2009). "Phylogenetic relationships between spiny, slipper and coral lobsters (Crustacea, Decapoda, Achelata)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 50 (1): 152–162. Bibcode:2009MolPE..50..152P. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.10.003. PMID   18957325.
2. Joel W. Martin; George E. Davis (2001). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea (PDF). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 1–132. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
3. "Palinuridae". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 24 February 2024.
4. Quinn, Brady K. "Palaeontological implications of the precedence of the lobster genus Phyllamphion Reinhardt, 1849 over Palinurellus Von Martens, 1878 (Decapoda, Achelata, Palinuridae)". Crustaceana. 96 (1): 97.