Pleocyemata

Taxobox
name = Pleocyemata


image_width = 250px
image_caption = American lobster, "Homarus americanus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Crustacea
classis = Malacostraca
ordo = Decapoda
subordo = Pleocyemata
subordo_authority = Burkenroad, 1963
subdivision_ranks = Infraorders
subdivision = Caridea

Stenopodidea

Polychelida

Achelata

Astacidea

Thalassinidea

Anomura

Brachyura

Pleocyemata is a sub-order of decapod crustaceans, erected by Martin Burkenroad in 1963 [cite journal | quotes=no|author=Burkenroad, M. D.|year=1963|title=The evolution of the Eucarida (Crustacea, Eumalacostraca), in relation to the fossil record|journal=Tulane Studies in Geology|issue=1|pages=1–17 | unused_data=|volume-2] . Burkenroad's classification replaced the earlier sub-orders of Natantia and Reptantia with the monophyletic groups Dendrobranchiata (prawns) and Pleocyemata. Pleocyemata contains all the members of the Reptantia (which is still used, but at a lower rank--this includes crabs, lobsters, crayfish, and others), as well as the Stenopodidea (which contains the so-called "boxer shrimp" or "barber-pole shrimp"), and Caridea, which contains all the true shrimp.

These taxa are united by a number of features, the most important of which is that the fertilised eggs are incubated by the female, and remain stuck to the pleopods (swimming legs) until they are ready to hatch. It is this characteristic that gives the group its name.

References