Thermosbaenacea
Tethysbaena ophelicola sub-adults
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Superorder: Peracarida
Order: Thermosbaenacea
Monod, 1927
Families

Thermosbaenacea is a group of crustaceans that live in thermal springs in fresh water, brackish water and anchialine habitats. They have occasionally been treated as a distinct superorder (Pancarida), but are generally considered to belong to the Peracarida.[1] Due to their troglobitic lifestyle, thermosbaenaceans lack visual pigments and are therefore blind.

The current distribution of some genera tallies well with the Miocene extent of the Tethys Sea, and it is assumed that the extant taxa are derived from ancestors that lived in open marine habitats. Elsewhere, the distribution is consistent with the break-up of Pangaea.[2]

The developing embryos are carried by the adult under its carapace until hatching.[3]

Classification

Thirty-four species are currently recognised, in four families:

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ G. C. B. Poore & W. F. Humphreys (1992). "First record of Thermosbaenacea (Crustacea) from the Southern Hemisphere: a new species from a cave in tropical Western Australia". Invertebrate Taxonomy. 6 (3): 719–725. doi:10.1071/IT9920719.
  3. ^ J. K. Lowry (1999). "Crustacea, the Higher Taxa: Description, Identification, and Information Retrieval".

External links

Orders of Malacostraca
Taxon identifiers
Authority control databases: National
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