Anaspidacea is an order of

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s, comprising eleven genera in four families. Species in the family

Anaspididae Anaspididae is a family of freshwater crustacean that is endemic to Tasmania, Australia. The family contains 3 genera and 5 species. This group of crustaceans are considered living fossils. They are commonly and collectively known as the Tasmania ...

vary from being strict stygobionts (only living underground) to species living in lakes, streams and

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

pools, and are found only in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Koonungidae is found in Tasmania and the south-eastern part of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n mainland, where they live in the

burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of sh ...

s made by

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

and in caves. The families Psammaspididae and Stygocarididae are both restricted to caves, but Stygocarididae has a much wider distribution than the other families, with '' Parastygocaris'' having species in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

as well as Australia; two other genera in the family are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to South America, and one, '' Stygocarella'', is endemic to New Zealand.

Genera

Thomson, 1893 **'' Allanaspides'' Swain, Wilson, Hickman & Ong, 1970 – Tasmania **'' Anaspides'' Thomson, 1894 – Tasmania **'' Paranaspides'' Smith, 1908 – Tasmania * Koonungidae Sayce, 1908 **'' Koonunga'' Sayce, 1907 – south-eastern Australia and Tasmania **'' Micraspides'' Nicholls, 1931 – south-eastern Australia and Tasmania * Psammaspididae Schminke, 1974 **'' Eucrenonaspides'' Knott & Lake, 1980 – Tasmania **'' Psammaspides'' Schminke, 1974 – south-eastern Australia * Stygocarididae Noodt, 1963 **'' Oncostygocaris'' Schminke, 1980 – southern South America **'' Parastygocaris'' Noodt, 1963 – southern South America **'' Stygocarella'' Schminke, 1980 – New Zealand **'' Stygocaris'' Noodt, 1963 – southern South America, south-eastern Australia and New Zealand

References

Syncarida Crustacean orders Freshwater crustaceans {{Malacostraca-stub