Furry lobster

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

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

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] The 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]

References

  1. ^ a b 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. 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. ^ "Synaxidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved February 15, 2011.