Eucarida is a

superorder 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 ...

of the

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 ...

, a class of the

crustacea 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 gro ...

n subphylum, comprising the

decapods The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is estim ...

krill Krill are small crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, and are found in all the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in n ...

, ''

Amphionides ''Amphionides reynaudii'' is a species of caridean shrimp, whose identity and position in the crustacean system remained enigmatic for a long time. It is a small (less than one inch long) planktonic crustacean found throughout the world's tropica ...

'' and

Angustidontida Angustidontidae is an extinct family of eucarid crustaceans and the sole representatives of the order Angustidontida. They were predators ranging in size from about 4 to 9 centimetres in length and lived during the Late Devonian and Early Carb ...

. They are characterised by having the

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

fused to all

thoracic The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the crea ...

segments, and by the possession of stalked

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

Orders

Eucarida is a diverse and abundant group, comprising the following four orders:

Euphausiacea

The members of the Euphausiacea are commonly called

and are all marine shrimp-like species whose

pleopod The decapod ( crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various ...

s (abdominal appendages) function as swimmerets. They swarm and mostly feed on

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

. This group is composed of only 90 species, some of which are the most abundant species on the planet; in fact, it is estimated that the biomass of the Antarctic krill ''Euphausia superba is 500 million tons.

Decapoda

Decapoda is a group with 15,000 species which have 5 pairs of thoracopods and a well-developed carapace that covers the

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

s (which are exposed in krill). They include

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

and

prawns Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...

. The decapods are further subdivided on the basis of the gill structure into two suborders

Dendrobranchiata Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of Decapoda, decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea ...

(prawns) and

Pleocyemata Pleocyemata is a suborder of Decapoda, decapod crustaceans, erected by Martin Burkenroad in 1963. Burkenroad's classification replaced the earlier sub-orders of Natantia and Reptantia with the monophyletic groups Dendrobranchiata (prawns) and Ple ...

, which is further subdivided into several infraorders, such as the

Caridea The Caridea, commonly known as caridean shrimp or true shrimp, are an infraorder of shrimp within the order Decapoda. This infraorder contains all species of true shrimp. They are found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Many ot ...

(true shrimp), the

Stenopodidea The Stenopodidea or boxer shrimps are a small group of decapod crustaceans. Often confused with Caridea shrimp or Dendrobranchiata prawns, they are neither, belonging to their own group. Anatomy They can be differentiated from the Dendrobranc ...

(boxer shrimp) and the

Anomura Anomura (sometimes Anomala) is a group of Decapoda, decapod crustaceans, including hermit crabs and others. Although the names of many anomurans include the word ''crab'', all true crabs are in the sister group to the Anomura, the Brachyura (the ...

and the Brachyura (

s) and so forth.

Amphionidacea

In addition, there is an enigmatic eucarid species, ''Amphionides reynaudii'', which is the sole representative of its order, but due to the loss of several features resulting from its small size, its classification has been unclear.

Angustidontida

Lastly, there is an extinct order that contains only one family, Angustidontidae, which in turn contains two genera, ''

Angustidontus ''Angustidontus'' is a genus of predatory pelagic crustaceans from the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous periods, classified as part of the subclass Eumalacostraca. Fossils of the genus have been recovered in relative abundance from Canada, ...

'' and '' Schramidontus''.

Phylogeny

The

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

of the Malacostraca is debated. In particular, the

monophyly In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic grou ...

of Eucarida is also under question: * Monophyletic: many argue that the Eucarida group is a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

, sister to the Peracarida clade or to the basal Malacostraca. or to Mysida (paraphyletic Schizopoda) * Paraphyletic: some have proposed a paraphyletic Eucarida forming a clade with a nested Peracarida. * Polyphyletic: some have grouped Euphausiacea with Mysida to form the

Schizopoda Schizopoda is a former Taxonomy (biology), taxonomical classification of a division of the Class (biology), class Malacostraca. Although it was split in 1883 by Johan Erik Vesti Boas into the two distinct order (biology), orders Mysidacea and Eupha ...

, or the Euphausiacea with the Hoplocarida, with Decapoda basal to the Peracarida.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q127341 Malacostraca Arthropod superorders