Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Superclassis: Multicrustacea
Classis: Malacostraca
Subclassis: Eumalacostraca
Superordo: Eucarida
Ordo: Decapoda
Subordo: Pleocyemata
Infraordo: Astacidea
Superfamilia: Nephropoidea
Familia: Thaumastochelidae
Genera (2): Thaumastocheles – Thaumastochelopsis
The family Thaumastochelidae contains five known species of deep-sea lobsters, three in the genus Thaumastocheles, and two in the genus Thaumastochelopsis. The fifth species was discovered in the ten–year Census of Marine Life.[1][2] These creatures are distinguished from other clawed lobsters by their blindness (an adaptation to deep-sea life), and by their single elongated, spiny chela.[3]
The family Thaumastochelidae is now more usually subsumed into the lobster family Nephropidae.[4]
The five species are as follows:
Thaumastocheles
Thaumastocheles dochmiodon Chan & de Saint Laurent, 1999 is found in the Timor Sea.
Thaumastocheles japonicus Calman, 1913, the "Pacific pincer lobster", is endemic to the Sea of Japan.
Thaumastocheles zaleucus Thomson, 1873, the "Atlantic pincer lobster" or "Atlantic deep-sea lobster", is endemic to the Caribbean region.
Thaumastochelopsis
Thaumastochelopsis brucei Ahyong, Chu & Chan, 2007 lives in the Coral Sea.
Thaumastochelopsis wardi Bruce, 1988, the "Australian pincer lobster", lives in the Coral Sea.
References
"Image Gallery". Census of Marine Life. Retrieved 2009-11-27.
"Deep sea oddities and more from the Census of Marine Life". Fox News. 2009-11-23.
A. J. Bruce (1988). "Thaumastochelopsis wardi, gen. et. sp. nov., a new blind deep-sea lobster from the coral sea (Crustacea : Decapoda : Nephropidea)" (PDF). Invertebrate Taxonomy. 2 (7): 903–914. doi:10.1071/it9880903.
Tin-Yam Chan (2009). "Nephropidae Dana, 1852". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
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