Spelaeogriphacea

Spelaeogriphacea is an order of crustaceans that grow to no more than 10 millimetres (0.39 in). Little is known about the ecology of the order.[1]

Spelaeogriphacea
Temporal range: Lower Carboniferous – Recent
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Spelaeogriphacea

Gordon, 1957
Family:
Spelaeogriphidae

Gordon, 1957
Genera

Only four species, all subterranean, have been described. Of the three genera, Potiicoara is known only from a cave in Brazil's Mato Grosso, Spelaeogriphus only from a cave on Table Mountain in South Africa, and the two Mangkurtu species only from individual Australian aquifers.[1] This widely separated distribution implies an early origin for the group, hypothesised as emerging at least 200 million years ago in the Tethys Sea around Gondwana.[1]

The fossil species Acadiocaris novascotica is also considered to belong to the Spelaeogriphacea.[2]

References
  1. D. Jaume (2008). "Global diversity of spelaeogriphaceans & thermosbaenaceans (Crustacea; Spelaeogriphacea & Thermosbaenacea) in freshwater". Hydrobiologia. 595 (1): 219–224. doi:10.1007/s10750-007-9017-1. hdl:10261/103495.
  2. Shen Yan-bin, Rod S. Taylor & Frederick R. Schram (1998). "New spelaeogriphacean (Crustacea: Peracarida) from the Upper Jurassic of China". Contributions to Zoology. 68 (1): 19–36. doi:10.1163/18759866-06801002.


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