malacostracan

malacostracan
/mal'euh kos"treuh keuhn/, adj.
1. belonging or pertaining to the crustacean subclass Malacostraca, which includes the lobsters, shrimps, crabs, etc.
n.
2. a malacostracan crustacean.
[1825-35; < NL Malacostrac(a) order of crustacea ( < Gk, neut. pl. of MALAKÓSTRAKOS soft-shelled, equiv. to malak- MALACO- + -ostrakos, adj. deriv. of óstrakon shell (of mollusks, etc.); cf. OSTRACIZE) + -AN]

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Introduction

      any member of the more than 29,000 species of the class Malacostraca (subphylum Crustacea, phylum Arthropoda), a widely distributed group of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial invertebrates. Lobsters, crabs, hermit crabs, shrimp, and isopods are all malacostracan crustaceans.

      Malacostracans are the most numerous and most successful of the four major classes of Crustacea. Their members constitute more than two-thirds of all living crustacean species. They exhibit the greatest range of size (less than one millimetre, or 0.04 inch, to a limb spread of more than three metres, or 10 feet) and the greatest diversity of body form. Malacostracans are abundant in all permanent waters of the world: in the seas from the tropics to the poles and from the tidal zone to the abyss; in surface and subterranean fresh waters of all continents except Antarctica (where they once existed); and terrestrially on all continental landmasses and all tropical and temperate islands.

      The success of malacostracans can be attributed primarily to their increased body size and to the evolution of more functional body regions and more sophisticated food-gathering appendages than possessed by their Paleozoic ancestors (542 million to 251 million years ago). This evolutionary thrust has been marked by the development of ambulatory legs and specializations for benthic life and by the brooding of eggs and suppression of free-living larval development. Especially significant has been a shift of food-gathering limbs from head to thorax and of swimming appendages and respiratory organs from head to thorax and finally to the abdomen. This rearward shift freed the antennae for the development of specialized organelles sensitive to odours, sounds, vibrations, and physical contact and added more appendages (maxillipeds) to the mouthpart field. Such changes have enabled terrestrial malacostracans to utilize efficiently the new food resources that have accompanied the evolution and proliferation of vascular plants from the late Paleozoic to the present.

General features

Size range and diversity of structure
      Some decapod crabs have leg spans of more than three metres, and others weigh more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds). Some free-living members of the orders Amphipoda (amphipod), Isopoda (isopod), and Stomatopoda (mantis shrimp) are lobster-sized (25–30 centimetres [0.8 to one inch]); most, however, are medium (one to three centimetres) in size. Paleozoic and primitive extant taxa seldom exceed 10 centimetres in body length, and the adult stages of some parasitic and subterranean groups are very small (less than one millimetre).

      Malacostracans have a fixed body plan of head, thorax, and abdomen. In the adult the head consists of five segments, the thorax of eight, and the abdomen typically of six (or rarely seven) unfused segments. The head supports paired compound eyes, two pairs of antennae, and three pairs of short, chewing mouthparts, each consisting of two branches. The eyes are usually pigmented and borne on movable stalks, but they are sessile on the sides of the head in isopods, amphipods, and members of some smaller groups. The first antennae (antennules) usually have two branches (three in the subclass Hoplocarida). The outer branch of the second antennae (antennal squame), which is usually flat and bladelike for elevation and swimming balance, has two segments in stomatopods and some mysids and one segment in syncarids and eucarids; it may be small or lost entirely in amphipods, isopods, and other bottom-dwelling or subterranean taxa. The first and second maxillae are short, with variable numbers of inner biting plates (endites) and often with outer lobes (epipodites), but the palps are short or lacking.

      From the hindmost (maxillary) segment projects a head shield, or carapace, which in primitive forms is large and covers the thorax, leg bases, and gill chamber. It may be fused to the dorsum of the thorax, as in the euphausiids, decapods, and other members of the superorder Eucarida, but it is variously reduced and fused only to the anterior thoracic segments in mysids or lost altogether in the isopods, amphipods, and syncarids.

      The eight pairs of thoracic legs are typically biramous (two-branched). One or more pairs are modified for feeding in some groups. In free-swimming species all legs are similar in shape, and both branches are slender. In bottom-dwelling species, however, the inner branch has become a stiff walking limb, and the slender multisegmented outer branch is variously reduced (in hemicarideans) or lost altogether (in amphipods and isopods). In advanced, especially bottom-dwelling, malacostracans (such as lobsters), one or more legs are pincerlike.

      The abdomen bears on each but the last segment a pair of ventral, or ventrolateral, biramous limbs called pereopods, or pleopods, which are primarily used in swimming. In the males of all eucaridans, hoplocarids, isopods, some hemicarids and syncarids, and rarely some amphipods, the anterior one or two pairs may be specially modified for sperm transfer. In males of most mysidaceans, the fourth and fifth pleopods (and the first and second uropods of some amphipods) may be modified as claspers for holding the female during mating. The last abdominal segment (of all but the leptostracans) bears a pair of biramous uropods and a median plate, or telson. The uropods are usually setose and paddle-shaped in swimming taxa and form a broad tail fan with the telson for rapid propulsion. In benthic and subterranean species the uropods are often slender, elongate, and tactile in function. The telson is bilobed in juvenile syncarids, larval eucaridans, some mysids, and most amphipods but platelike in all other malacostracans.

Distribution and abundance
      The class Malacostraca contains more than 29,000 living species and represents about half of all known crustacean species. It is the single largest group not only of marine arthropods but also of all fully aquatic arthropod taxa. Within the Malacostraca, Decapoda (decapod) is the largest order, with more than 10,000 described species, followed by the orders Isopoda (10,000 species) and Amphipoda (6,200 species). The other major orders have fewer than 1,000 species each.

      Most malacostracans are marine. Among the decapods, the ancient palinurans, their modern brachyuran (10-legged crab) derivatives, and the dendrobrachiate and stenopodid shrimps dominate in tropical and temperate marine shallows. The decapod caridean shrimps, astacidean lobsters and crayfish, and anomurans (hermits and eight-legged crabs), however, dominate in cold-water and polar regions, in the deep sea, and in continental fresh waters. The amphipods and isopods are also abundant along cold-water marine shores and in the abyss and have widely penetrated fresh waters. They are also widespread in underground waters and terrestrial environments. Stomatopods are largely confined to tropical marine shallows; tanaids and cumaceans are found mainly in the colder deeps; and mysids, though mainly marine, are also abundant in relicts of northern glacial lakes.

Importance to ecology and to humans
      Malacostracans are often predators and scavengers. They are important ecologically in ridding the sea bottom and seashores of decaying animal and plant matter and in serving as middle-level converters of organic food energy to animal protein in a form suitable for fish, sea birds, marine mammals, and ultimately humans. The decapods and euphausiids (krill, order Euphausiacea) are the only malacostracan groups that have a major direct economic value to humans.

Natural history

reproduction and life cycles (life cycle)
      The malacostracan life cycle typically involves an egg stage; a series of free-swimming, plankton-feeding larval stages; a series of immature (subadult) growth stages; and finally a sexually mature (reproductive) adult stage. Hermaphroditic adults are present in a few isopods. In the primitive swarming type of reproduction the male seeks out the female in the open water, usually in synchrony with lunar periodicity, cycles of temperature, or food availability. Mating (copulation) is very brief, often completed in a few seconds and usually following the reproductive molt of the female, when her exoskeleton is still soft. The eggs are fertilized as they are extruded from the oviductal opening on the sternum of the sixth thoracic segment. In many species males do not feed, do not reproduce again, and do not live long after mating. Fertilized eggs may be shed freely in the sea, where they hatch, usually into nauplius larvae. In marine groups that brood (brooding) the eggs by attaching them to the pleopods, the eggs hatch as late-stage larvae, which are often carnivorous (e.g., zoeae and phyllosoma larvae of decapods, antizoeae and pseudozoeae of stomatopods). These larvae eventually sink or swim to the bottom and pass through one or more stages prior to attaining the juvenile stage. Where embryos develop within a thoracic brood pouch, the larval stages are suppressed. The embryos typically hatch as immature forms of the adult (e.g., Isopoda, juveniles of the orders Mysidacea and Amphipoda), but parental brooding may be continued for a further few molts. In the deep sea and in fresh waters, whether embryos are laid freely (superorder Syncarida) or brooded on pleopods (decapods) or in a thoracic pouch (isopods and amphipods), they hatch as juveniles or immature adult forms.

      In the more advanced, especially bottom-dwelling, malacostracans or in those with specialized habits, mating usually takes place on or in the bottom. Males may attend, guard, or carry the female for some time (preamplexus) prior to copulation (amplexus), and mating may be prolonged for several hours; the male usually continues to feed, molt, and mate further (in isopods, creeping decapods, and benthic amphipods). Where the female exoskeleton variously hardens prior to mating, the oviductal opening is often complex, and sperm transfer is assisted by correspondingly modified first and second pleopods of the male (“internal” fertilization of stomatopods, isopods, and the superorder Eucarida). Newly hatched late larvae or juveniles may be initially guarded or carried by the female (in stomatopods and some amphipods and isopods).

      Malacostracans are primarily swimmers and secondarily walkers, clingers, and burrowers. Swimming is accomplished primitively by coordinated, synchronous beating of the biramous head appendages in early larval stages and thoracic appendages in later larval stages and the adult stages of leptostracan shrimp, mysids (see ), and syncardids and in krill, decapods, and other eucarid malacostracans. The swimming action characteristic of adult malacostracans is provided by abdominal pleopods. Typically, each of the first five abdominal segments bears, on the ventral (lower) surface, a pair of pedunculate, biramous pleopods. In order to beat in unison, each pair is usually hooked together by spines on the inner margin of the peduncle (retinacula) or the inner ramus (“clothespin spines”). The amphipods are unique in having only three pairs of pleopods, the last two pairs being modified as stiff, thrusting uropods. In primitive forms the pleopod rami are slender and segmented (annulate), as in amphipods and procarididean decapods, all of which are primarily swimmers as adults; however, in all the other malacostracan groups, most of which are crawlers and burrowers, the rami are broad, flaplike, and unsegmented. The pleopods are typically reduced, or even lost, in many burrowers. The swimming crabs use paddlelike fifth thoracic legs for propulsion. Abrupt swimming propulsion is provided by the tail fan. In amphipods the tail fan (consisting of three pairs of uropods and telson) provides a sudden forward thrust. In eucaridans (especially decapods) the tail fan (paired uropods and telson) provides a characteristic “tail-flip” or sudden backward escape reaction.

      In most benthic malacostracans the hind five to seven pairs of thoracic legs have become essentially uniramous (single-branched)—the inner branch is thickened and stiffened and adapted for walking or crawling. In amphipods the first four pairs are pointed forward and the last three backward, an adaptation for perching, clinging, climbing in “inchworm” fashion, or jumping.

      In burrowing malacostracans, especially decapods and stomatopods, the distal segments of some legs attain a pincerlike form that facilitates both digging and removal of the soft substratum. In many species of burrowing amphipods, the claws are reduced, but the adjacent segments are much broadened, strongly spined, and powerfully muscled. Rapid leg movements, often aided by the fanning action of setose antennae and the hydraulic tunneling motion of powerful pleopods, enable these torpedo-shaped crustaceans to swim through loose sandy substrata, feeding as they go.

Food and feeding
      Malacostracans consume virtually every available kind of organic matter, plant or animal, living or dead. The small- to medium-sized animals primarily consume detritus and plankton, and some parasitize other aquatic organisms. The larger-sized malacostracans are mainly carnivores and scavengers, preying on a wide range of small invertebrates and fishes or devouring the carcasses of whales, seals, fishes, and large invertebrates. Burrowing and small groundwater malacostracans are filter feeders, consuming microorganisms and bacteria from the sediments. Terrestrial isopods and amphipods consume forest leaf litter and algae at the tide lines.

      Malacostracans capture or obtain their food primarily by using their thoracic legs. In early free-swimming larvae and the adults of some filter-feeding or deposit-feeding amphipods, isopods, and hemicarideans and in large carnivorous palinuran decapods, food may be gathered (occasionally killed) by means of the antennae and other head appendages. In carnivorous, or raptorial, species one or more of the thoracic legs are enlarged, and the tips are pincerlike, allowing the animal to capture, kill, and initially shred its prey. In lobsters and crayfish the first walking leg (fourth thoracic) is fully cheliform (pincerlike), and either the left or right claw is massive, with pavementlike teeth for crushing hard-shelled prey such as snails and clams. In “spearer”-type stomatopods the raptorial claw is toothed and spiny for stabbing soft-bodied prey. “Smashers” have a swollen, hammerlike claw for crushing hard-bodied prey.

      Malacostracans (except for leptostracans) typically have one to three pairs of thoracic limbs modified as accessory mouthparts. These maxillipeds (or “jaw legs”) pass food to the masticatory, or chewing, mouthparts of the head proper. The thoracic segment of the first pair of maxillipeds is usually fused to the head, forming a cephalon. In stomatopods the first five pairs are called maxillipeds, but only the first pair is functionally so and its body segment is not fused to the head. In amphipods the first two pairs of thoracic legs may also function as food-pushing limbs, but their segments are typically free. In decapods the first two or three pairs serve as maxillipeds, and their segments are fused within the cephalothorax.

      The mouthparts generally reflect feeding habits. In flesh eaters and scavengers the mandibular incisors are typically large and the plates and palps of the maxillae and maxillipeds are armed with strong spines and cutting edges, whereas the molar is small or lacking. In those species that consume all organic material and in those that consume only plants, the molar is usually strong, with an inner grinding surface. In filter feeders the plates of the maxillules, the maxillae, or both may be enlarged and equipped with a large number of fine-filtering (plumose) setae. Accessory (baler) plates, for directing feeding currents, are often well developed (e.g., in cumaceans and haustoriid amphipods).

      Although malacostracans are typically free-living animals, members of several taxa, especially among the amphipods, decapods, and isopods, have formed symbiotic (symbiosis), commensal, and even fully parasitic (parasitism) relationships with other invertebrates, fishes, marine mammals, and reptiles. Many decapods, especially porcellanid and xanthid crabs, live permanently in cavities among sponges, corals, and bryozoans. Some amphipods live within the respiratory and feeding cavities of sponges, tunicates, and anemones. Lafystiid and some lysianassid amphipods, as well as aegid, cymathoid, and immature gnathiid isopods, are external parasites of fish. Cyamid amphipods occur on whales and some hyalid amphipods in the buccal cavities of marine turtles. Epicaridean isopods are fully parasitic on other crustaceans, especially decapods. The body of the host may be much deformed and the body of the parasitic female very much transformed, quite unlike the small, symmetrically segmented, and otherwise normal male.

Form and function

External features
      The chitinous exoskeleton, or cuticle, covering the body and limbs of malacostracans is divided into segments interconnected by strong, flexible membranes, allowing for articulation at the joints. The cuticle is usually soft and thin in small, wormlike, generally subterranean species, in parasitic species, or in the respiratory surfaces of free-living species. In large, heavy, mostly carnivorous species, the cuticle is highly mineralized or impregnated with calcium salts. Such an exoskeleton provides considerable mechanical leverage and protection to the owner.

      Malacostracans, like all arthropods, increase in size by molting (molt). They shed the old cuticle, expand in size, and secrete a new cuticle that subsequently hardens. This process may require several days for completion (in some hard-shelled bottom dwellers). The animals remain in sheltered locations until the new exoskeleton is hardened.

Internal features
The nervous system and sensory organs
      The malacostracan central nervous system consists, in primitive forms, of a ventral nerve cord and ganglia within each body segment. The supraesophageal ganglion innervates the eyes, antennules, and antennae, and the subesophageal ganglion innervates the mouthparts of the head region. In amphipods and anomuran decapods the ganglia of abdominal segments are variously fused. In brachyuran decapods the abdominal and thoracic ganglia are fused into a single central thoracic ganglionic centre.

      Nearly all surface-dwelling members have pigmented eyes, but these are usually reduced or totally lost in underground and deep-sea species. Crustacean eyes are compound (as in insects) and may be composed of thousands of individual facets, or ommatidia. The compound eyes of most malacostracans and their advanced larval stages are located on a movable stalk. The overall image is formed by combining the images from many individual ommatidia. The compound eye is especially sensitive to movement and has a wide field of vision, often more than 180°. This is an enormous advantage to large, predatory malacostracans.

      The eyes of smaller, mainly benthic, nonpredatory malacostracans, such as amphipods, hemicarideans, and isopods, are located on small lobes or flat on the sides of the head. Except in predatory or nocturnal amphipods, the eyes are small and consist of only a few facets. Light that may strike a large patch of facets is concentrated on one ommatidium. Such eyes provide poor visual acuity. Compound eyes can discriminate colour, initiating changes within skin cells to match the colour of the substratum.

      Olfactory hairs, or esthetascs, are used to locate food and recognize other crustaceans and their sexual states. Tactile setae occur generally over the external surfaces and appendages, especially of the antennae, food-gathering limbs, and mouthparts. Tactile hairs are present in the statocysts (organelles of balance) located, for example, in the first peduncular segment of the antennules in amphipods and the superorder Eucarida.

      Some decapods and amphipods are sensitive to pressure change. Minute pit sensory organs of the general body surface are suspected receptors. Many decapods and amphipods produce sound by striking (percussion) or rasping (stridulating) or by internal mechanisms. Organs of sound reception include, in brachyurans, the chordotonal organs on the hinges of walking legs. Highly specialized sound and vibration receptors include the antennal calceoli of amphipods, the individual microstructure of which consists of receiving elements arranged serially and attached to the antennal segment by a slender stalk. In more-advanced groups the basal elements are expanded into a cuplike receptacle, and the stalk is distally expanded into a bulla, or resonator. In highly advanced predatory amphipods two types of calceoli are found: one type is used to detect mates (found in males only), and the other is used to detect prey (found in both sexes).

      The digestive tract (alimentary canal) of malacostracans (digestive system, invertebrate) consists of a mouth; an esophagus; a two-chambered foregut; a midgut with outpocketings called digestive glands, or hepatopancreas; and a hindgut, or rectum. The large anterior foregut, or cardiac stomach, occupies much of the posterior aspect of the head and the anterior thoracic body cavity. A constriction separates it from the smaller, more ventral, pyloric stomach that lies in the posterior part of the thorax. Lining the inside of the greatly folded and muscular stomach walls, especially the pyloric portion, are groups or rows of stiff bristles, teeth, and filtering setae known as the gastric mill. The mill is strongly and complexly developed in large decapods, which ingest food quickly and in coarse chunks. The filtering setae are prominent in malacostracans that ingest fine materials or masticate their food thoroughly with the mouthparts. The macerated and partly digested food slowly works its way through the filtering system of the pyloric stomach into the ceca, or pouches, of the hepatopancreas. There enzyme production and the storage and absorption of food takes place. The digestive secretions depend on the species and diet and include cellulase and chitinase. In stomatopods the cardiac stomach is large enough to hold the remains of large prey; it opens directly from the mouth without an intervening esophagus. The midgut, or main intestine, may either extend throughout the abdomen, as in lobsters, or be very short, as in crabs. Fecal material is voided through the anus from the short rectum.

      Malacostracans excrete waste fluids mainly through the ducts of the nephridial glands, which are present in the body segments of the second antennae and the maxillae. The ducts open on the basal segments of those head appendages. Antennal nephridial glands are present in the adult stages of eucaridans, mysidaceans, and amphipods and in the larval stages of stomatopods and hemicarideans. The antennal glands of amphipods are enlarged in freshwater forms but are small in terrestrial species. Maxillary nephridial glands are typical of adult stomatopods, syncaridans, hemicaridans, and isopods. Adult leptostracans have both types of glands. Nephrocytes are present at the bases of thoracic legs and elsewhere in the body of mainly primitive groups. Bathynellaceans have a unique uropodal gland. The sternal gills (gill) of amphipods are osmoregulators.

      Most large malacostracans respire through gills, which develop as vascularized outgrowths of the first segment of the thoracic legs (epipodal gills). The gills of decapods are in a branchial chamber beneath the carapace, and oxygenated water is funneled through them. The lining of the chamber itself may be soft and vascularized for respiration, as in mysids, thermosbaenaceans, hemicarideans, and peneid shrimps. Land crabs have larger and more vascularized branchial chambers than do aquatic crabs. Land crabs also possess specialized chambers for keeping the gills moist.

      The epipodal gills in syncarids and euphausiids are unprotected, since a carapace is either lacking or does not cover the leg bases. In amphipods the gills are usually simple sacs or plates, which in the course of evolution have migrated to the inner side of the legs. The gills are fanned and oxygenated by the pleopods in the ventral tunnel formed by the coxal plates. In stomatopods and isopods gill-like outgrowths of the pleopods or invaginated pseudotracheae (in terrestrial isopods) are the main organs of respiration.

      Gases diffuse across the respiratory surface. Since the chitinous material of the body wall is relatively impermeable, special mechanisms have evolved to boost oxygen uptake. These include increased surface area (dendritic, foliate, pleated, or “double” gills), rich vascularization of respiratory surfaces, ventilating mechanisms (current-directing exopods and baler plates of the maxillae and maxillipeds), and presence in the blood of special respiratory pigments such as hemocyanin (which contains copper).

Blood vascular system
      Malacostracans have a more complex open circulatory system than do other crustaceans. The single-chambered heart is enclosed in a pericardial sinus and is located dorsally, above the gut. It is elongate and tubular with several holes (ostia) for return flow in primitive forms (orders Leptostraca and Stomatopoda and the superorder Syncarida), but it is short and boxlike with one to two ostia and located in the thorax in advanced forms (decapods). The blood, or hemolymph, is pumped to the head through an aorta and to the gills and locomotor appendages through lateral and ventral arteries. Veins are lacking, and the blood returns to the heart via a series of sinuses.

Endocrine system and hormones (hormone)
      The major neuroendocrine control centre of malacostracans is the X-organ–sinus-gland complex, which lies in the eyestalk or in an equivalent part of the head in which the eyes are sessile. This complex regulates maturation, dispersal of pigments in the eye and for body colour change, and some metabolic processes, including molting. The female's ovaries, the male's reproductive glands, the pericardial organs, and the maxillary Y-organs of decapods also produce hormones that function in the molt and reproductive cycles.

Defense and aggression (aggressive behaviour)
      Malacostracans must compete for food, shelter, space, and mates. Hermit crabs fight over shells to occupy, stomatopods and alpheid shrimps fight over shelters, and terrestrial crabs and tube-building amphipods contest burrows and domiciles. Males of many species grow enlarged and embellished appendages at maturity for use in fighting and winning mates. Fights to determine status range from highly ritualized displays to death struggles. In decapods the most aggressive fighters are aquatic species, which are well armed, meet infrequently, and compete only occasionally over patchy, ephemeral resources, including females. Terrestrial species, which are more prone to injury, more social, and less limited by availability of resources, exhibit more complex, formalized interactions. Male fiddler crabs attract females by waving the enlarged claw and sending sound signals. The signals establish the identity and intent of the sender. Male ghost crabs build sand pyramids to attract females. Numerous shrimps and some amphipods snap the movable finger of the enlarged claw against the hand as part of threat displays and courtship signals. Many stomatopods have a colour-coded, species-specific eyespot on the claws, which is displayed during posturing. More aggressive species have brighter eyespots. Stomatopods that fight with the same or closely related species reduce the force of their blows or engage in ritualized combat. Relatively docile species are more aggressive when facing more bellicose neighbours. An elaborate set of courtship signals is needed by the male stomatopod to prevent the female from attacking him.

Evolution and paleontology
      The fossil record of the Malacostraca extends from the early Paleozoic era (Early Ordovician epoch, 488 million to 472 million years ago) to the present. The early phyllocarids (order Archaeostraca) had a body form which resembled the aquatic branchiocarid arthropods that were diverse in Cambrian seas, 542 to 488 million years ago. Those primitive forms (e.g., Canadaspida) were not directly ancestral, however, since they lacked gnathobasic (chewing) head appendages (e.g., mandibles, maxillae) and other major characteristics of the true Crustacea. Malacostracans share a number of advanced characteristics with members of the enigmatic crustacean class Remipedia, including biramous antennules, a first trunk segment fused to the head, limbs modified as maxillipeds, and paired swimming appendages on all trunk segments posterior to the genital openings.

      The first eucaridan malacostracans appear as fossils from the middle Paleozoic (Late Devonian epoch, 385 million to 359 million years ago). These were burrowing, lobsterlike, protoglyphaeids with primitive, somewhat pincerlike walking legs and a tail fan with uropods. During the late Paleozoic (Early Carboniferous epoch through Permian period, 359 million to 251 million years ago) malacostracans evolved rapidly, apparently in step with the proliferation of coastal vascular plants that formed a major new aquatic food resource. At least 16 new orders arose during that time, some members of moderate size, with both subcheliform and true pincerlike walking legs (e.g., Hoplocarida, Astacidea). In other, mostly smaller, bottom dwellers in brackish to fresh lagoons and estuaries (e.g., Hemicaridea, Syncarida, Mysidacea, Isopoda) the carapace and thoracic respiratory chamber were reduced or lost altogether, the eggs developed directly, within a thoracic brood pouch, and respiration and swimming propulsion became increasingly abdominal. At least eight primitive and unspecialized orders died out by the close of the Permian (e.g., aeschronectid stomatopods, Pygocephalomorpha, Belotelsonidea). During the Mesozoic heyday of the malacostrans, 251 million to about 66 million years ago, however, an equal number of new orders arose. With the evolution of the anomurans and true crabs during this era, the decapods diversified and grew to large sizes. All major amphipod suborders and infraorders are believed to have evolved by the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The isopods had diversified into their 10 existing suborders, including those fully parasitic on other crustaceans and fishes. All major continental fresh waters had been widely penetrated via estuaries and coastal groundwaters. Moist lands, then becoming forested with angiosperms, were being occupied by terrestrial isopods and amphipods.

      With the subsequent cooling of coastal seas in the Tertiary period, several malacostracan groups (e.g., asellote isopods, lysianassid amphipods, and anomuran decapods) proliferated in cold-water regions and in the deep sea. The amphipods became associated with mammals and tortoises, which first moved into their ancestral shallows, and coevolved with them to their specialized status as epiparasites of whales and marine turtles. Several malacostracan groups that had proliferated in the warm shallows of late Paleozoic and Mesozoic seas either disappeared or were reduced to a few relict species in deep or anoxic marine habitats (e.g., Lophogastrida, glyphaeid decapods, Leptostraca, Mictacea) or in continental groundwaters (e.g., Syncarida, Spelaeogriphacea, Thermosbaenacea). The isopods, decapods, and amphipods now make up 90 percent of all living malacostracans.

Classification

Diagnostic classification
      Malacostracan characters used in diagnosis and classification include type of eye (stalked or sessile), type of antennule (one-, two-, or three-branched, with or without sensory structures), type of antenna (with or without accessory branch, sensory structures), mouthpart structure (including presence or absence of palps, plates, and spines that reflect feeding preferences), carapace (presence or absence, type), anterior segments (degree of fusion with head), anterior limb pairs (degree of modification as maxillipeds, gnathopods), posterior limb pairs (whether single- or double-branched, simple or pincerlike, bearing gills or not), male and female sex ducts (type and position of openings), segmentation (degree of fusion of segments), pleopods (whether annulate or flaplike, sexually modified or not, gill-bearing or not), uropods (present or not, single- or double-branched), and telson (bilobate or platelike, with or without furcae). In the classification below, a dagger () denotes an extinct group.

Annotated classification
Class Malacostraca
 Double- or triple-branched antennules; single-branched ambulatory (walking) limbs often equipped with pincers; thoracic and abdominal respiration; terminal body segment with uropods; carapace, variously reduced or lacking, does not cover thoracic limbs; larval development usually of an advanced free-swimming type (e.g., zoea) or often completed within the egg, in which case the first stage is an immature form of the adult; nauplius larva, when present, an advanced maxillopodan type lacking primitive frontal filaments but possessing specialized median eye; more than 29,000 species.
      Subclass Phyllocarida
 Carapace large, appearing bivalved; thoracic legs with leaflike outer branch; abdomen 7-segmented, lacking uropods; anterior segments with pleopods (swimming legs). The earliest recognized malacostracans in the fossil record belong to this subclass. Most living representatives are bottom-dwelling suspension-feeders. About 20 species.

      Order Archaeostraca
 Early Ordovician to Permian; carapace bivalved and hinged; both antennae with two branches; 6 families.

      Order Hoplostraca
 Late Carboniferous; carapace short; antennae 2 one-branched, raptorial in form; 1 family.

      Order Leptostraca (visored shrimp)
 Permian to Holocene; carapace large, not hinged; antennae 2 one-branched, slender; terminal abdominal segment with pair of large paddlelike branches; eggs brooded under carapace; marine; on muddy bottoms low in oxygen; intertidal to the deeps; about 15 species in 3 families.

      Subclass Hoplocarida
 Late Devonian to Holocene; carapace large, not bivalved; rostrum hinged; antennules 3-branched; forward thoracic legs subchelate (clawlike); hind thoracic legs ambulatory (walking) or burrowing; abdomen large; pleopods bearing gills; terminal segment with large tail fan; 3 orders.

      Order Aeschronectida
 Carboniferous; carapace covers entire thorax; thoracic legs without pincers; terminal body segment elongate; 3 families.

      Order Palaeostomatopoda
 Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous; carapace covers thorax; anterior thoracic legs with claws; terminal body segment normal; 1 family.

      Order Stomatopoda (mantis shrimps (mantis shrimp))
 Early Carboniferous, Mesozoic to Holocene; carapace short, exposing thoracic segments 5–8; first 5 pairs of legs clawlike, hind 3 stiltlike; terminal body segment normal; telson unbranched, simple; live in burrows or dens from which they dart forth to smash or spear prey with large clawlike second legs; mainly in tropical marine shallows; 4 superfamilies and 15 families, 350 species.

      Subclass Eumalacostraca
 Late Devonian to Holocene; carapace (when present) not bivalved; rostrum fixed; first antenna 2-branched; thoracic legs with slender, many-segmented outer branch and stout, 7-segmented inner branch, often pincerlike, used in walking or food-gathering; 6 (rarely 7) abdominal segments, with pleopods and terminal uropods.

      Superorder Syncarida
 Late Devonian to Holocene; carapace lacking; thorax and abdomen weakly separated; thoracic legs biramous, bearing gills but without pincer claws; abdomen 6-segmented; 150 species.

      Order Palaeocaridacea
 Carboniferous to Permian; first thoracic segment not fused to head; abdominal pleopods 2-branched, flaplike; 4 families.

      Order Anaspidacea (torrent shrimps)
 Triassic to Holocene; first thoracic segment fused to head; pleopods 1-branched, slender, multisegmented; fresh waters of Australia, New Zealand, and South America; 2 suborders and 4 families.

      Order Bathynellacea
 Permian to Holocene; body minute; wormlike; blind; thorax of 8 segments; legs short, weak; abdomen nearly lacking pleopods; in groundwaters of all continents except Antarctica; 2 families.

      Superorder Eucarida
 Carapace fused to thorax; thoracic legs usually with gills at bases; eggs usually hatch as free-swimming larvae.

      Order Belotelsonidea
 Carboniferous; carapace large; thoracic legs 1-branched, simple, without pincers; pleopods flaplike; telson with furcae; 1 family.

      Order Euphausiacea ( krill)
 Carboniferous? to Holocene; carapace not covering leg bases; 8 thoracic legs biramous, unspecialized, bearing tuffy gills; telson with furcae; long series of larval stages; marine, pelagic; 2 families, 85 species.

      Order Amphionidacea
 Holocene; carapace large; thoracic legs 1-branched; in female, first pleopod expanded under carapace to enclose a brood pouch; deep-swimming, tropical marine.

      Order Decapoda (decapod) (shrimps, lobsters, hermit crabs, crabs)
 Carapace large, enclosing thorax and gill chamber; inner branch of thoracic legs strong, often pincerlike; first 2–3 pairs of thoracic legs smaller, modified as accessory feeding limbs (maxillipeds); uropods and telson usually forming broad tail fan; marine, some freshwater, a few terrestrial; about 10,000 species.

      Superorder Pancarida
 

      Order Thermosbaenacea
 (hot-springs shrimps). Holocene; minute; blind; wormlike; carapace short, forming dorsal brood pounch in female; thoracic legs weak, mostly 2-branched; lacking gills; pleopods weak or lacking; subterranean; about 15 species in 5 families.

      Superorder Peracarida
 Carapace shortened, attached anteriorly to thorax, or lacking; eggs develop in ventral thoracic brood pouch and hatch as miniature adults.

      Order Pygocephalomorpha
 Carboniferous to Permian; carapace large, unridged, covering thorax; ventral plates of thorax widening behind; walking legs 6-segmented; abdomen 6-segmented; coastal marine; 4 families.

      Order Lophogastrida
 Late Carboniferous to Holocene; carapace large, ridged, covering thorax; ventral plates of thorax evenly widened; thoracic legs 7-segmented, weakly modified for grasping prey; abdomen basically 7-segmented; pleopods slender, branches segmented; deep-sea, free swimming; 3 families.

      Order Mysidacea (opossum shrimp)
 Jurassic to Holocene; carapace short, exposing hind segments; thoracic legs simple, 7-segmented; abdomen 6-segmented; pleopods usually reduced in female, hind pairs modified as claspers in male; brood plates on posterior legs only; marine, freshwater; about 800 species in 4 families.

      Order Amphipoda (amphipod) (well shrimps, night shrimps)
 Eocene to Holocene; carapace lacking; eyes flat on head, not stalked; 7 pairs of 1-branched thoracic legs, each covered basally by a coxal plate; last 5 or 6 pairs bearing gill on inner side; first 2 pairs usually subcheliform (pincerlike); abdomen 6-segmented, with 3 forward pairs of slender, segmented swimmerets and 3 hind pairs of stiff uropods; telson basically bilobed; thoracic brood pouch; eggs hatch as miniature adults; marine, freshwater, one family terrestrial; about 6,200 described species in 4 suborders, 31 superfamilies, and 137 families.

      Order Cumacea (hooded shrimp) (tadpole shrimps)
 Carboniferous to Holocene; head and thorax short, deep; carapace enclosing functional respiratory chamber; abdomen slender; pleopods lacking in female; marine, burrowing in sediments; about 950 species in 9 families.

      Order Mictacea
 Holocene; body elongate; carapace lacking; respiratory chamber vestigial; pleopods very reduced; marine; 2 families, 3 species.

      Order Spelaeogriphacea
 Early Carboniferous to Holocene; body elongate; carapace short; thoracic legs slender, 2–4 with small outer branch; uropods broad; marine and freshwater; 2 families, 3 species.

      Order Tanaidacea (tanaid) (tanaid shrimps)
 Early Carboniferous to Holocene; body small, cylindrical; eyes on small lobes; carapace short; second thoracic legs large and pincerlike in male; 5 pairs of pleopods; marine, brackish, rarely freshwater; about 550 species in 4 suborders and 21 families.

      Order Isopoda (isopod) (pill bugs, sow bugs, sea slaters)
 Body flattened dorsoventrally or cylindrical (greatly modified in parasitic members); carapace and respiratory chamber lacking; eyes sessile; 7 pairs of uniramous thoracic legs (some may be pincerlike), lacking gills; leg segment 3 elongate; pleopods broad, often with gills; marine, freshwater, and terrestrial; about 10,000 species in 10 suborders and 100 families.

Critical appraisal
      The relationships among the various groups of malacostracan crustaceans are constantly undergoing revision in the light of new faunal discoveries and new taxonomic methodology, including the use of molecular techniques. The system used here is based on those developed by English biologist T. Cavalier-Smith (1998) and American paleontologist F.R. Schram (1986). The mainly fossil subclass Phyllocarida (with two noncrustacean groups removed) is here retained in the Malacostraca.

Edward L. Bousfield Kathleen Elizabeth Conlan

Additional Reading
E.L. Bousfield, Shallow-water Gammaridean Amphipoda of New England (1973), describes and illustrates the range, ecology, life history, and behaviour of 125 species of malacostracans. Other useful resources include the first nine volumes of D.E. Bliss (ed.), The Biology of Crustacea, 10 vol. (1982–87); the ninth and tenth volumes of F.W. Harrison and A.G. Humes (eds.), Microscopic Anatomy of the Invertebrates, 15 vol. (1991–99); and F.R. Schram, Crustacea, 2 vol. (2006).

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Malacostracan — Mal a*cos tra*can, n. (Zo[ o]l.) One of the Malacostraca. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • malacostracan — [mal΄ə käs′trəkəsmal΄ə käs′trə kən] adj. [< ModL Malacostraca < Gr malakostrakos, soft shelled < malakos, soft (see MALACO ) + ostrakon, shell + AN] of a large class (Malacostraca) of highly evolved crustaceans typically consisting of 19 …   English World dictionary

  • malacostracan — noun Etymology: ultimately from Greek malakostrakos soft shelled, from malakos soft + ostrakon shell more at mollify, oyster Date: 1835 any of a large subclass (Malacostraca) of crustaceans having a thorax consisting of eight segments usually… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • malacostracan — mal•a•cos•tra•can [[t]ˌmæl əˈkɒs trə kən[/t]] adj. 1) ivt belonging or pertaining to the crustacean subclass Malacostraca, characterized by 20 body segments: includes lobsters, shrimps, and crabs 2) ivt a malacostracan crustacean • Etymology:… …   From formal English to slang

  • malacostracan — /mæləˈkɒstrəkən/ (say maluh kostruhkuhn) adjective Also, malacostracous. 1. belonging to the Malacostraca, a subclass of crustaceans which have a comparatively complex organisation, including lobsters, shrimps, crabs, etc. –noun 2. a… …  

  • malacostracan Zoology — [ˌmalə kɒstrək(ə)n] noun a crustacean of the large class Malacostraca, which includes crabs, shrimps, and lobsters, distinguished by having compound eyes that are typically on stalks. adjective relating to malacostracans. Origin from mod. L.… …   English new terms dictionary

  • malacostracan — noun Any of very many crustaceans of the class Malacostraca …   Wiktionary

  • malacostracan — n. member of a group of crustaceans; member of the Malacostraca …   English contemporary dictionary

  • malacostracan — mal·a·cos·tra·can …   English syllables

  • malacostracan — n. & adj. n. any crustacean of the class Malacostraca, including crabs, shrimps, lobsters, and krill. adj. of or relating to this class. Etymology: MALACO + Gk ostrakon shell …   Useful english dictionary

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