Epicaridea is a former

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

isopod Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...

s, now treated as an infraorder in suborder Cymothoida. They are

ectoparasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

s that inhabit other

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, namely

ostracod Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

barnacle A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in eros ...

s and

malacostraca Malacostraca (from New Latin; ) is the largest of the six classes of crustaceans, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members, the malacostracans, display a great diversity of body forms and include crabs, lobst ...

ns. Epicarideans are found globally. Epicaridea are generally less well researched than other isopods. There is a high degree of

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

within epicarideans. The female is commonly very asymmetrical, often losing segmentation. Two pairs of rudimentary antennae are carried on the head. Mouthparts show little development, with only mandibles and maxillipeds present, sometimes with a second pair of rudimentary

maxillae The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...

. Males are of smaller size than females and of different appearance. Development is through regressive

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

, undergoing two or three larval stages. The oldest trace fossils of epicarideans, comprising preserved damage to gills of fossilised crustaceans, goes back to the Late Jurassic, and a lost specimen from the

Toarcian The Toarcian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic. It spans the time between 182.7 Ma (million years ago) and 174.1 Ma. It follows the Pliensbachian and is followed by the Aalenian. The Toarcian ...

of Western New Guinea suggests that it may go back further to the Early Jurassic. Fossil epicaridean larvae are known from the

Vendée amber Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

of France and the Burmese amber of Myanmar, dating to the early Late Cretaceous, and also from

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

aged

Chiapas amber Mexican amber, also known as Chiapas Amber is amber found in Mexico, created during the Early Miocene and middle Miocene epochs of the Cenozoic Era in southwestern North America. As with other ambers, a wide variety of taxa have been found as incl ...

Classification

Eleven families are currently recognised within the suborder Epicaridea, divided into two superfamilies. *Superfamily Bopyroidea Rafinesque, 1815 **

Bopyridae The Bopyridae are a family of isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. There are 1223 individual species contained in this family. Members of the family are ectoparasites of crabs and shrimp. They live in the gill cavities or under the car ...

Rafinesque, 1815 ** Colypuridae Richardson, 1905 **

Entoniscidae The Entoniscidae are a family of marine isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. Members of this family are parasites of brachyuran and anomuran crabs, living in their hosts' haemocoel. A small chitinised hole develops through the host's ...

Kossmann, 1881 **Ionidae H. Milne Edwards, 1840 *Superfamily Cryptoniscoidea Kossmann, 1880 **

Asconiscidae ''Asconiscus'' is a genus in the Asconiscidae family of marine isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida, containing a single genus and a single species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank o ...

Bonnier, 1900 **

Cabiropidae The Cabiropidae are a family of isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. The original description was made by Giard and Bonnier in 1887. Members of the family are hyperparasites of other parasitic isopods Isopoda is an order of crus ...

Giard & Bonnier, 1887 **

Crinoniscidae The Crinoniscidae are a family of isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. The original description was made by Bonnier in 1900. Members of this family are parasites, mostly on other crustaceans. '' Crinoniscus equitans'' is parasitic on th ...

Bonnier, 1900 **

Cryptoniscidae The Cryptoniscidae are a family (biology), family of Isopoda, isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. The original description was made by Kossmann in 1880. "Liriopsidae" is a junior synonym. Members of this family are hyperparasites of Rh ...

Kossmann, 1880 **

Cyproniscidae The Cyproniscidae are a family (biology), family of marine Isopoda, isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. The original description was made by Bonnier in 1900. Members of this family are Parasitism, parasitic on other isopods. The famil ...

Giard & Bonnier, 1887 ** Dajidae Giard & Bonnier, 1887 **

Kossmann, 1881 **

Hemioniscidae The Hemioniscidae are a family of marine isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. The original description was made by Bonnier in 1900. Members of this family are parasitic on cirripede barnacles. The family contains these genera and spec ...

Bonnier, 1900 **

Podasconidae The Podasconidae are a family of marine isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. The original description was made by Giard and Bonnier in 1895. Members of this family are parasitic on amphipods. The family contains these genera and speci ...

Giard & Bonnier, 1895 ** Stellatoniscidae Oanh & Boyko, 2020

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3055723 Isopoda