Anaspididae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of freshwater

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 ...

that is endemic to

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

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 ...

. The family contains 3

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

and 5

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

. This group of crustaceans are considered

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 ...

s. They are commonly and collectively known as the Tasmanian anaspid crustaceans. Anaspidids have stalked eyes, long antennae and antennules, and a slender body with no carapace. The two species of ''Allanaspides'' and the single species of ''Paranaspides'' are all listed as vulnerable on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Taxonomy

*''Allanaspides'' Swain, Wilson, Hickman & Ong, 1970 **'' Allanaspides hickmani'' Swain, Wilson & Ong, 1970 – commonly known as Hickman's pygmy mountain shrimp **'' Allanaspides helonomus'' Swain, Wilson, Hickman & Ong, 1970 *''Anaspides'' Thomson, 1894 **'' Anaspides tasmaniae'' Thomson, 1892 **'' Anaspides spinulae'' Williams, 1965 *''Paranaspides'' Smith, 1908 **''Paranaspides lacustris'' Smith, 1909

References

Crustaceans of Australia Syncarida Crustacean families {{Malacostraca-stub