Dromiacea
Group of crabs / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dromiacea is a group of crabs, ranked as a section. It contains 240 extant and nearly 300 extinct species.[1] Dromiacea is the most basal grouping of Brachyura crabs, diverging the earliest in the evolutionary history, around the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic. Below is a cladogram showing Dromiacea's placement within Brachyura: [2] [3]
Dromiacea | |
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Dromia dormia (Dromioidea: Dromiidae) feeding on a sea urchin | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
Infraorder: | Brachyura |
Section: | Dromiacea De Haan, 1833 |
Superfamilies | |
The larvae of Dromiacea resemble those of the Anomura more closely than those of other crabs.[citation needed] This may simply reflect their basal position in the crab phylogeny. The superfamily Eocarcinoidea, containing Eocarcinus and Platykotta, was previously considered to be a member of the Dromiacea, but has since been transferred to the Anomura.[4]
The fossil record of Dromiacea reaches back at least as far as the Jurassic,[5] and, if Imocaris is indeed a member, into the Carboniferous.[6]
Dromiacea primarily consists of two groups of superfamilies - Dromioidea and Homoloidea. See the below cladogram:[2]
Dromiacea |
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Recent studies have found that some of the families may not be monophyletic, but rather paraphyletic.[2]
- The Dromioidea family Dromiidae may be paraphyletic with respect to Dynomenidae
- The Homoloidea family Homolidae is paraphyletic with respect to Latreilliidae