The Glypheoidea (containing the glypheoid lobsters), is a group of

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 ...

-like decapod

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 which forms an important part of fossil faunas, such as the Solnhofen limestone. These fossils included taxa such as ''Glyphea'' (from which the group takes its name), and ''Mecochirus'', mostly with elongated (often semichelate)

cheliped A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-like organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through New Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds. ...

s. This group of decapods is a good example of a

living fossil A living fossil is an extant taxon that cosmetically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of origin of the extant clade. Living fossi ...

, or a

lazarus taxon In paleontology, a Lazarus taxon (plural ''taxa'') is a taxon that disappears for one or more periods from the fossil record, only to appear again later. Likewise in conservation biology and ecology, it can refer to species or populations tha ...

, since until their discovery in the 1970s, the group was considered to have become

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

in the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

. The

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Glypheoidea comprises five families. The two extant species, ''

Neoglyphea inopinata ''Neoglyphea inopinata'' is a species of glypheoid lobster, a group thought long extinct before ''Neoglyphea'' was discovered. It is a lobster-like animal, up to around in length, although without claws. It is only known from 17 specimens, ca ...

'' and ''Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica'', are both in the Glypheidae.

Prehistoric abundance

The first animals attributable to the Glypheoidea appeared in the Permo-

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

. They were abundant in the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

, but declined from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

to the

Extant taxa

The Glypheoidea was originally considered to be a purely fossil group. That opinion had to be altered when a single male specimen was discovered in the collections of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in 1975. It had been caught off the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in 1908 and preserved, without its full significance being realised. Over sixty years later, the specimen was rediscovered, and described by two French scientists as a new genus and species, ''

'' in 1975, meaning "unexpected new ''Glyphea''". More individuals were caught on subsequent expeditions in 1976, 1980 and 1985, allowing for a complete description. A second species was discovered in the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

, near

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, in 2005. First described as ''Neoglyphea neocaledonica'', in 2006, it has been transferred to a new genus ''Laurentaeglyphea'', much closer to fossil forms.

Classification

Naturkundemuseum Berlin - Mecochirus longimanatus - Solnhofen

Five families are recognised, containing a total of 21 genera, all but two of which are extinct (extant taxa marked in boldface): *† Chimaerastacidae :*† '' Chimaerastacus'' *

Glypheidae The Glypheoidea (containing the glypheoid lobsters), is a group of lobster-like decapod crustaceans which forms an important part of fossil faunas, such as the Solnhofen limestone. These fossils included taxa such as ''Glyphea'' (from which the ...

:*† '' Cedrillosa'' :*† ''

Glyphea ''Glyphea'' is a genus of fossil glypheoid crustaceans that lived from the Jurassic to the Eocene. It includes the following species: *'' Glyphea alexandri'' Taylor, 1979 *'' Glyphea arborinsularis'' Etheridge Jr., 1917 *'' Glyphea australens ...

'' :*''

Laurentaeglyphea ''Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica'' is a species of Glypheoidea, glypheoid lobster, and the only species in the genus ''Laurentaeglyphea''. It is known from a single specimen collected on a guyot in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Caledon ...

'' :*''

Neoglyphea ''Neoglyphea inopinata'' is a species of glypheoid lobster, a group thought long extinct before ''Neoglyphea'' was discovered. It is a lobster-like animal, up to around in length, although without claws. It is only known from 17 specimens, ca ...

'' :*† '' Paralitogaster'' :*† '' Squamosoglyphea'' :*† '' Trachysoma'' *† Mecochiridae :*† '' Huhatanka'' :*† '' Jabaloya'' :*† '' Mecochirus'' :*† '' Meyeria'' :*† '' Preatya'' :*† '' Pseudoglyphea'' :*† '' Selenisca'' *† Pemphicidae :*† '' Pemphix'' :*† '' Pseudopemphix'' :*† '' Sinopemphix'' *† Platychelidae :*† '' Glaessnericaris'' :*† '' Platychela'' :*† '' Platypleon''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q141550 Glypheidea Lopingian first appearances Extant Permian first appearances Arthropod superfamilies