Thalassinidea

Thalassinidea
Upogebia deltaura
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Thalassinidea Latreille, 1831
Superfamilies and Families
Thalassinoidea Thalassinidae Callianassoidea Callianassidae Callianideidae Ctenochelidae Laomediidae Thomassiniidae Upogebiidae Axioidea Axiidae Calocarididae Micheleidae Strahlaxiidae

Thalassinidea is an infraorder of decapod crustaceans that live in burrows in muddy bottoms of the world's oceans. In Australian English, the littoral thalassinidean Trypaea australiensis is referred to as the yabby^[1] (a term which also refers to freshwater crayfish of the genus Cherax), frequently used as bait for estuarine fishing; elsewhere, however, they are poorly known, and as such have few vernacular names, "mud lobster" and "ghost shrimp" counting among them.

Recent molecular analyses have shown this group to be most closely related to Brachyura (crabs) and Anomura (hermit crabs and their allies). The fossil record of thalassinideans reaches back to the late Jurassic.^[2]

The monophyly of the group is not certain; recent studies have suggested dividing the group into two infraorders, Gebiidea and Axiidea.^[3]

There are believed to be 556 extant species of thalassinideans in 96 genera,^[4] with the greatest diversity in the tropics, although with some species reaching latitudes above 60° north. About 95% of species live in shallow water, with only three taxa living below 2,000 metres (6,600 ft).^[5]

Thalassinoides, burrows produced by thalassinideans, from the Middle Jurassic, Makhtesh Qatan, southern Israel.

References

1. ^ "Yabby". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50288585?query_type=word&queryword=yabby&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=56QR-RvFgUX-9957&hilite=50288585. 
2. ^ Nguyen Ngoc-Ho (July 30, 1981). "A taxonomic study of the larvae of four thalassinid species (Decapoda, Thalassinidea) from the Gulf of Mexico" (PDF). Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History: Zoology Series 40 (5): 237–273. http://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/20428/20428.pdf. Retrieved February 29, 2008. 
3. ^ Sammy De Grave, N. Dean Pentcheff, Shane T. Ahyong et al. (2009). "A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Suppl. 21: 1–109. http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s21/s21rbz1-109.pdf. 
4. ^ Peter C. Dworschak (2005). "Global diversity in the Thalassinidea (Decapoda): an update (1998-2004)". Nauplius 13 (1): 57–63. http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/Content.Node/forschung/3zoo/Dworschak2005b_homepage.pdf. 
5. ^ Peter C Dworschak (2000). "Global diversity in the Thalassinidea (Decapoda)". Journal of Crustacean Biology 20: 238–243. http://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/12157/12157.pdf.