A new theoretical approach for the study of monophyly of the Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) and its impact on the Anomura
Memoirs of Museum Victoria Vol 60 (1) p. 145–149 (2003)
Abstract
The primitive crabs consist of the Cyclodorippidae Ortmann, 1892; Cymonomidae Bouvier, 1897; Dromiidae de Haan, 1833; Dynomenidae Ortmann, 1892; Homolodromiidae Alcook, 1900; Homolidae de Haan, 1839; Latreilliidae Stimpson, 1858; Phyllotymolinidae Tavares, 1998; Poupiniidae Guinot, 1991; and Raninidae de Haan, 1841. The primitive crabs were transferred for the first time from the Brachyura to the Anomura by H. Milne Edwards (1832). Since then, they have been moved, individually or collectively, from the Anomura to the Brachyura and vice–versa with each successive revision. The high classification of both, Anomura and Brachyura, will not attain stability until the systematic position of the primitive crabs is established on a firm basis. The question of whether the Podotremata, in whole or in part, belongs or not to the Brachyura is discussed herein from a cladistic perspective. The argument is made that there are four different assumptions hidden within this question, and that only when they are explicitly considered will real progress be made towards a better understanding of brachyuran interrelationships
Citation
Tavares, M., 2003. A new theoretical approach for the study of monophyly of the Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) and its impact on the Anomura. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 60: 145-149. http://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2003.60.17
PUBLICATION DATE: 31 JANUARY 2003