Portal:Crustaceans

The Crustaceans Portal Abludomelita obtusata, an amphipod Crustaceans are a group of arthropods that are a part of the subphylum Crustacea (/krəˈsteɪʃə/), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthropods including decapods (shrimps, prawns, crabs, lobsters and crayfish), seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, opossum shrimps, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can be treated as a subphylum under the clade Mandibulata. It is now well accepted that the hexapods (insects and entognathans) emerged deep in the Crustacean group, with the completed group referred to as Pancrustacea. The three classes Cephalocarida, Branchiopoda and Remipedia are more closely related to the hexapods than they are to any of the other crustaceans (oligostracans and multicrustaceans). The 67,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at 0.1 mm (0.004 in), to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to 3.8 m (12.5 ft) and a mass of 20 kg (44 lb). Like other arthropods, crustaceans have an exoskeleton, which they moult to grow. They are distinguished from other groups of arthropods, such as insects, myriapods and chelicerates, by the possession of biramous (two-parted) limbs, and by their larval forms, such as the nauplius stage of branchiopods and copepods. Most crustaceans are free-living aquatic animals, but some are terrestrial (e.g. woodlice, sandhoppers), some are parasitic (e.g. Rhizocephala, fish lice, tongue worms) and some are sessile (e.g. barnacles). The group has an extensive fossil record, reaching back to the Cambrian. More than 7.9 million tons of crustaceans per year are harvested by fishery or farming for human consumption, consisting mostly of shrimp and prawns. Krill and copepods are not as widely fished, but may be the animals with the greatest biomass on the planet, and form a vital part of the food chain. The scientific study of crustaceans is known as carcinology (alternatively, malacostracology, crustaceology or crustalogy), and a scientist who works in carcinology is a carcinologist. (Full article...) Selected article The Cape lobster, Homarinus capensis, is a species of small lobster that lives off the coast of South Africa, from Dassen Island to Haga Haga. Only a few dozen specimens are known, mostly regurgitated by reef-dwelling fish. It lives in rocky reefs, and is thought to lay large eggs that have a short larval phase, or that hatch directly as a juvenile. The species grows to a total length of 10 cm (3.9 in), and resembles a small European or American lobster; it was previously included in the same genus, Homarus, although it is not very closely related to those species, and is now considered to form a separate, monotypic genus – Homarinus. Its closest relatives are the genera Thymops and Thymopides. Did you know? Oncaea venusta (Copepoda: Oncaeidae) ... that Poecilostomatoida (Oncaea venusta pictured) are parasitic copepods? ... that the estuarine, burrow-dwelling ghost shrimp Neotrypaea californiensis is used as bait, but is sometimes attacked with insecticides because it damages Pacific oyster farms? ... that the Pentastomida are parasitic invertebrates commonly known as tongue worms because of their resemblance to vertebrate tongues? ... that the barnacle Megabalanus can reach 7 cm in length? Selected biography Pierre André Latreille (November 20, 1762 – February 6, 1833) was a French zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Latreille was born illegitimately on November 29, 1762 in the town of Brive, then in the province of Limousin. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned after the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, and only regained his freedom after recognising a rare species he found in the prison, Necrobia ruficollis. He published his first important work in 1796 (Précis des caractères génériques des insectes), and was eventually employed by the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. His foresighted work on arthropod systematics and taxonomy, using all available characters and rejecting anthropocentrism and teleology, gained him respect and accolades. He was considered the foremost entomologist of his time, and was described by one of his pupils as "the prince of entomologists". He helped found the Société entomologique de France, acting as honorary president, and was honoured by having dozens of species and genera named after him. Selected image Nototropis falcatus (Amphipoda: Atylidae) Nototropis falcatus (formerly Atylus falcatus) is a species of amphipod from sandy bottoms in the North Atlantic and North Sea. General images The following are images from various crustacean-related articles on Wikipedia. Anatomy of Cypridina mediterranea (from Ostracod) Articulated ostracod valves in cross-section from the Permian of central Texas; typical thin section view of an ostracod fossil (from Ostracod) Body structure of a typical crustacean – krill (from Crustacean) Copepods, from Ernst Haeckel's 1904 work Kunstformen der Natur (from Crustacean) Odontodactylus scyllarus (Hoplocarida: Stomatopoda) (from Malacostraca) Ostracod (from Ostracod) Porcellio scaber and Oniscus asellus (Peracarida: Isopoda) (from Malacostraca) The large ostracod Herrmannina from the Silurian (Ludlow) Soeginina Beds (Paadla Formation) on eastern Saaremaa Island, Estonia (from Ostracod) Artemia salina (Anostraca: Artemiidae) (from Branchiopoda) Leptostraca such as Nebalia bipes retain the primitive condition of having seven abdominal segments. (from Malacostraca) Daphnia pulex (Cladocera: Daphniidae) (from Branchiopoda) Zoea larva of the European lobster, Homarus gammarus Eryma mandelslohi, a fossil decapod from the Jurassic of Bissingen an der Teck, Germany A shed carapace of a lady crab, part of the hard exoskeleton Squilla empusa, a mantis shrimp (from Malacostraca) Eggs of Potamon fluviatile, a freshwater crab Abludomelita obtusata, an amphipod (from Crustacean) Ostracod swimming motions (in real time) (from Ostracod) Grapsus grapsus, a terrestrial crab (from Malacostraca) Cancer pagurus (Eucarida: Decapoda) (from Malacostraca) Decapods, from Ernst Haeckel's 1904 work Kunstformen der Natur (from Crustacean) Norway lobsters on sale at a Spanish market Crustacean lists List of Atlantic decapod species List of crabs of New Zealand List of crustaceans of the Indiana Dunes List of crustaceans of Ireland List of crustaceans of Montana List of crustaceans of Puerto Rico List of Cumacea literature List of decapod crustaceans of Dominica List of freshwater crabs of Sri Lanka List of marine crustaceans of South Africa List of prehistoric barnacles List of prehistoric malacostracans List of woodlice of the British Isles Subcategories Category puzzle Select [►] to view subcategories Crustaceans Cephalocarida Branchiopoda Crustaceans by location Malacostraca Maxillopoda Ostracods Remipedia Crustaceans by year of formal description Carcinology Cave crustaceans Crustacean anatomy Crustacean redirects Diseases and parasites of crustaceans Extinct crustaceans Freshwater crustaceans Crustaceans and humans Parasitic crustaceans Crustacean taxonomy Crustacean stubs Related portals Portal:Arthropods Portal:Insects Portal:Marine life Portal:Animals Portal:Biology Portal:Oceans Portal:Paleontology WikiProjects WikiProject Arthropods WikiProject Animals WikiProject Biology WikiProject Science Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikispecies Directory of species Wikiversity Free learning tools Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Discover Wikipedia using portals List of all portals The arts portal Biography portal Current events portal Geography portal History portal Mathematics portal Science portal Society portal Technology portal Random portal WikiProject Portals