Epicaridea

Epicaridea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Isopoda
Suborder: Epicaridea
Latreille, 1831
Superfamilies

Epicaridea is a suborder of isopod crustaceans that are ectoparasites on other crustaceans.

Description

There is a high degree of sexual dimorphism within epicarideans. The female is commonly very asymmetrical, often losing segmentation. Two pairs of rudimentary antennae are carried on the head. Mouthparts show little development, with only mandibles and maxillipeds present, sometimes with a second pair of rudimentary maxillae. Males are of smaller size than females and of different appearance. Development is through regressive metamorphosis, undergoing two or three larval stages.

Ecology

Members of Epicaridea are ectoparasites, mesoparasites, and endoparasitess on various crustacean groups, including decapods, thecostracan barnacles, ostracods, amphipods, cumaceans and even other isopods depending on the family. Epicarideans exhibit a complex 4-part life cycle, with a free-swimming epicaridium stage, a mesoniscus stage ectoparasitic on copepods, a free-swimming cryptoniscus stage and an adult stage with a highly derived female and a simplified or paedomorphic male.

Evolution

The oldest trace fossils of epicarideans, comprising preserved damage to gills of fossilised crustaceans, goes back to the Late Jurassic, and a lost specimen from the Toarcian of Western New Guinea suggests that it may go back further to the Early Jurassic. Fossil epicaridean larvae are known from the Vendée amber of France and the Burmese amber of Myanmar, dating to the early Late Cretaceous, and also from Miocene aged Chiapas amber.

Classification

Eleven families are currently recognised within the suborder Epicaridea, divided into two superfamilies.

References

  1. 1 2 Schotte M, Boyko CB, Bruce NL, Poore GC, Taiti S, Wilson GD (eds.). "Epicaridea". World Marine, Freshwater and Terrestrial Isopod Crustaceans Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  2. ↑ An, J.; Yin, X.; Chen, R.; Boyko, C.B.; Liu, X. (2023). "Integrative taxonomy of the subfamily Orbioninae (Crustacea: Isopoda) based on mitochondrial and nuclear data with evidence that supports Epicaridea as a suborder". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 180 (107681).
  3. ↑ Harriet Richardson (1905). A Monograph on the Isopods of North America. Government Printing Office. pp. 1–497.
  4. 1 2 Boyko, Christopher B.; Williams, Jason D. (2026). "Chapter 6. Suborder Epicaridea. In Poore (ed), Marine Crustacea Isopoda: guide to families and genera of the world". Memoirs of Museum Victoria. 86: 229–354.
  5. ↑ Schädel, Mario; Hörnig, Marie K.; Hyžný, Matúš; Haug, Joachim T. (2021-06-01). "Mass occurrence of small isopodan crustaceans in 100-million-year-old amber: an extraordinary view on behaviour of extinct organisms". PalZ. 95 (3): 429–445. Bibcode:2021PalZ...95..429S. doi:10.1007/s12542-021-00564-9. ISSN 1867-6812.
  6. ↑ Schädel, Mario; Perrichot, Vincent; Haug, Joachim T. (2019-11-12). "Exceptionally preserved cryptoniscium larvae - morphological details of rare isopod crustaceans from French Cretaceous Vendean amber". Palaeontologia Electronica. 22 (3): 1–46. doi:10.26879/977. ISSN 1094-8074. S2CID 209391266.
  7. ↑ Serrano-Sánchez, María de Lourdes; Nagler, Christina; Haug, Carolin; Haug, Joachim T.; Centeno-García, Elena; Vega, Francisco J. (2016-01-21). "The first fossil record of larval stages of parasitic isopods: cryptoniscus larvae preserved in Miocene amber". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 279 (1): 85414. Bibcode:2016NJGPA.279..543S. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2016/0543. ISSN 0077-7749.
  8. ↑ Joel W. Martin & George E. Davis (2001). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea (PDF). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 1–132. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2009-12-15.