| Syncarida | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Koonunga cursor | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Subclass: | Eumalacostraca |
| Superorder: | Syncarida Packard, 1885 |
| Orders | |
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Syncarida is a superorder of crustaceans, comprising the two extant orders Anaspidacea and Bathynellacea, [1] [2] and the extinct order Palaeocaridacea. [3]
Fifty-nine living genera are known, in six families: [4]
Malacostraca is the second largest of the six classes of pancrustaceans behind insects, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members, the malacostracans, display a great diversity of body forms and include crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, prawns, woodlice, amphipods, mantis shrimp, tongue-eating lice and many other less familiar animals. They are abundant in all marine environments and have colonised freshwater and terrestrial habitats. They are segmented animals, united by a common body plan comprising 20 body segments, and divided into a head, thorax, and abdomen.
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea, sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 33,000 species have been identified, grouped into 7 valid orders. They are small crustaceans, typically around 1 mm (0.04 in) in size, but varying from 0.2 to 30 mm in the case of the marine Gigantocypris. The largest known freshwater species is Megalocypris princeps, which reach 8 mm in length. In most cases, their bodies are flattened from side to side and protected by a bivalve-like valve or "shell" made of chitin, and often calcium carbonate. The family Entocytheridae and many planktonic forms do not have calcium carbonate. The hinge of the two valves is in the upper (dorsal) region of the body. Ostracods are grouped together based on shell and soft part morphology, and molecular studies have not unequivocally supported the group's monophyly. They have a wide range of diets, and the class includes carnivores, herbivores, scavengers and filter feeders, but most ostracods are deposit feeders.
Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered mountain lakes, and Antarctic ice. They are usually 6–25 mm (0.24–0.98 in) long. Most species have 20 body segments, bearing 11 pairs of leaf-like phyllopodia, and the body lacks a carapace. They swim "upside-down" and feed by filtering organic particles from the water or by scraping algae from surfaces, with the exception of Branchinecta gigas, or "giant fairy shrimp", which is itself a predator of other species of anostracans. They are an important food for many birds and fish, and some are cultured and harvested for use as fish food. There are 300 species spread across 8 families.
The family Argulidae, whose members are commonly known as carp lice or fish lice, are parasitic crustaceans in the class Ichthyostraca. It is the only family in the monotypic subclass Branchiura and the order Arguloida, although a second family, Dipteropeltidae, has been proposed. Although they are thought to be primitive forms, they have no fossil record.
The superorder Peracarida is a large group of malacostracan crustaceans, having members in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. They are chiefly defined by the presence of a brood pouch, or marsupium, formed from thin flattened plates (oostegites) borne on the basalmost segments of the legs. Peracarida is one of the largest crustacean taxa and includes about 12,000 species. Most members are less than 2 cm (0.8 in) in length, but the largest is probably the giant isopod which can reach 76 cm (30 in). The earliest known perecaridian was Oxyuropoda ligioides, a fossil of which has been found dating to the Late Devonian of Ireland.
Eumalacostraca is a subclass of crustaceans, containing almost all living malacostracans, or about 40,000 described species. The remaining subclasses are the Phyllocarida and possibly the Hoplocarida. Eumalacostracans have 19 segments. This arrangement is known as the "caridoid facies", a term coined by William Thomas Calman in 1909. The thoracic limbs are jointed and used for swimming or walking. The common ancestor is thought to have had a carapace, and most living species possess one, but it has been lost in some subgroups.
Anaspidesidae is a family of freshwater crustacean that is endemic to Tasmania, Australia. The family contains 3 living genera. This group of crustaceans are considered living fossils. They are commonly and collectively known as the Tasmanian anaspid crustaceans.
Anaspides is a genus of freshwater crustaceans in the family Anaspidesidae. The genus was first described in 1894 by George Malcolm Thomson. The genus was originally placed in the family, Anaspididae by Thomson, but this genus name was preoccupied by the insect genus, Anaspis Geoffroy, 1762, and therefore, in 2017, the family was renamed Anaspidesidae by Shane Ahyong and Miguel A. Alonso-Zarazaga.
Eucrenonaspides oinotheke is a species of crustacean in the family Psammaspididae, endemic to Tasmania, the only species described in the genus Eucrenonaspides. Eucrenonaspides is in the order Anaspidacea. It was described from a spring at 9 Payton Place, Devonport, Tasmania in 1980, making it "the first spring-dwelling syncarid recorded from the Australian region". It is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List. A further undescribed species is known from south-western Tasmania.
Anaspidacea is an order of crustaceans, comprising eleven genera in four families. Species in the family Anaspidesidae vary from being strict stygobionts to species living in lakes, streams and moorland pools, and are found only in Tasmania. Koonungidae is found in Tasmania and the south-eastern part of the Australian mainland, where they live in the burrows made by crayfish and in caves. The families Psammaspididae and Stygocarididae are both restricted to caves, but Stygocarididae has a much wider distribution than the other families, with Parastygocaris having species in New Zealand and South America as well as Australia; two other genera in the family are endemic to South America, and one, Stygocarella, is endemic to New Zealand.
Bathynellacea is an order of crustaceans which live interstitially in groundwater. Some species can tolerate low salt concentrations, and at least one African species is a thermophile, living in hot springs and tolerating temperatures up to 55 °C (131 °F). Bathynellaceans are minute, blind, worm-like animals with short, weak legs, reaching a maximum size of 3.4 millimetres (0.13 in). They are found on every continent except Antarctica, although they are missing from some islands, including Fiji, New Caledonia and the Caribbean islands. There are two families, Bathynellidae and Parabathynellidae; a third family, "Leptobathynellidae", is considered a synonym of Parabathynellidae.
Phylogeny of Malacostraca is the evolutionary relationships of the largest of the six classes of crustaceans, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members display a great diversity of body forms. Although the class Malacostraca is united by a number of well-defined and documented features, which were recognised a century ago by William Thomas Calman in 1904, the phylogenetic relationship of the orders which compose this class is unclear due to the vast diversity present in their morphology. Molecular studies have attempted to infer the phylogeny of this clade, resulting in phylogenies which have a limited amount of morphological support. To resolve a well-supported eumalacostracan phylogeny and obtain a robust tree, it will be necessary to look beyond the most commonly utilized sources of data.
Platyarthridae is a family of woodlice, containing the following genera:
Brevisomabathynella cooperi is a species of crustacean. It was first found in Western Australia. It stands out within its family by its pygmoid body and its long head. At the same time, its mouthparts show: a very large labrum with a great number of teeth; its incisor process with four main teeth and three very small other teeth, arranged in two groups; and the distal-inner spines of the farthermost endite of its maxillule being longer than its terminal spines. These distinct characters appear to have developed due to its predatory habits, which in turn are evidenced by the presence of an ostracod prey in the gut of B. cunyuensis, its sister species. This genus closely resembles the genus Notobathynella.
The clade Multicrustacea constitutes the largest superclass of crustaceans, containing approximately four-fifths of all described non-hexapod crustacean species, including crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, prawns, woodlice, barnacles, copepods, amphipods, mantis shrimp and others. The largest branch of multicrustacea is the class Malacostraca.
Macrothricidae is a family of anomopods in the order Diplostraca. There are about 17 genera and at least 80 described species in Macrothricidae.
Bathynellidae is a family of crustaceans belonging to the order Bathynellacea, first described by Karl Grobben in 1905.
Parabathynellidae is a family of crustaceans belonging to the order Bathynellacea. These creatures are characterized by their slender bodies, reduced eyes, and elongated antennae. They are typically less than 1 mm in length, making them difficult to observe without the aid of a microscope. Parabathynellidae are found in freshwater habitats around the world, including streams, springs, caves, and aquifers.
Anaspides driesseni is a species of freshwater crustacean in the family Anaspidesidae, and was first described in 2023 by Christoph Höpel, Stefan Richter & Shane Ahyong. In 2016 Ahyong discussed three morphologically different forms of A. swaini occurring in three different drainage systems.
Koonaspides is an extinct genus of fossil crustacean in the family Anaspidesidae, from Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Koonwarra Fossil Beds in eastern Victoria, Australia. The only known species within the genus is Koonaspides indistinctus. Along with the Triassic genus Anaspidites, this is one of two known fossil members of this family.
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