Polychelida

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Cladus: Pancrustacea
Superclassis: Multicrustacea
Classis: Malacostraca
Subclassis: Eumalacostraca
Superordo: Eucarida
Ordo: Decapoda
Subordo: Pleocyemata
Infraordo: Polychelida
Familiae: Coleiidae – Eryonidae – Palaeopentachelidae – Polychelidae – Tetrachelidae
References

De Grave, S., Pentcheff, N.D., Ahyong, S.T., Chan T-Y., Crandall, K.A., Dworschak, P.C., Felder, D.L., Feldmann, R.M., Fransen, C.H.J.M., Goulding, L.Y.D., Lemaitre, R., Low, M.E.Y., Martin, J.W., Ng, P.K.L., Schweitzer, C.E., Tan, S.H., Tshudy, D. & Wetzer, R. 2009. A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 21: 1–109. PDF. Reference page.

Polychelida is an infraorder of decapod crustaceans. Fossil representatives are known dating from as far back as the Upper Triassic. A total of 38 extant species, all in the family Polychelidae, and 55 fossil species have been described.
History

Polychelida had traditionally been included in the infraorder Palinura, alongside the spiny lobsters and slipper lobsters (now in the infraorder Achelata).[1][2] In 1995, Gerhard Scholtz and Stefan Richter of the Freie Universität Berlin carried out a phylogenetic study of the "Reptantia", and concluded that "Palinura" was paraphyletic. They therefore abandoned that taxon and introduced instead the new clade Polychelida.[1]
Classification

Polychelida belongs to the group Reptantia, which consists of the walking/crawling decapods (lobsters and crabs). Polychelida is the sister clade to the infraorder Astacidea, which contains the "true" lobsters and crayfish. The cladogram below shows Polychelida's placement within the larger order Decapoda, from analysis by Wolfe et al., 2019.[3]