BATHUS 2, BIOPAPUA, HALIPRO 1, MUSORSTOM 3, PAPUA NIUGINI, SALOMON 2

We present an updated classification for the entire Crustacea Decapoda, listing all known families and genera organized by higher taxonomic groups and including estimates of the number of species in every genus. All taxonomic names are also linked to the verified literature in which they were described, the first compilation of its kind for the Decapoda. To arrive at this compilation, we began with the classification scheme provided by Martin & Davis (2001) for extant families,, updated the higher classification and included the fossil taxa. The resultant framework was then populated with the currently valid genera and an estimate of species numbers within each genus. Our resulting classification, spanning both extant (living) and fossil taxa, is the first comprehensive estimate of taxonomic diversity within the entire Decapoda. The classification consists of 233 families of decapods containing 2,725 genera and an estimated 17,635 species (including both extant and fossil species). Of the families in our classification, 53 are exclusively fossil, 109 contain both fossil and extant species, and 71 are extant only. The current estimate for extant species is 14,756, whereas 2,979 species are known exclusively as fossils.

AURORA 2007, MAINBAZA

We performed the first cladistic analysis of Metanephrops , the most diverse extant genus of clawed lobster, using a morphology-based data matrix of all 20 species of Metanephrops and 35 cladistically informative characters, all external hard parts. Unweighted cladistic analysis corroborates previous studies that indicated that homoplasy is rampant in the evolution of clawed lobsters. Only 5 of the 68 synapomorphies identified by the analysis are unambiguous, unreversed synapomorphies. Recent species of Metanephrops have traditionally been divided (non-cladistically) into four morphology-based groups. Cladistic analyses support the traditional, arafurensis , Atlantic/ binghami , and japonicus groupings; these groups are monophyletic. The thomsoni group is not supported by the cladogram. The (two) oldest known fossil Metanephrops species occur in Late Cretaceous, shallow marine rocks of the eastern/Atlantic side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The stratigraphic and geographic occurrences of these fossil species are the basis for the previously hypothesized, Late Cretaceous, southern high latitude origin of Metanephrops . Cladistic results corroborate that Metanephrops originated in the southern high latitudes. The cladistically most plesiomorphic single species, the recent M. challengeri , and the next most plesiomorphic species, the Late Cretaceous M. rossensis , are both known from the high southern latitudes. Likewise, the most plesiomorphic species group, the binghami group, is best known from the high southern latitudes.

PANGLAO 2004, PANGLAO 2005