Eumalacostraca

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Superphylum: Ecdysozoa
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Classis: Malacostraca
Subclassis: Eumalacostraca
Superordines: †Eocarida - Syncarida - Peracarida - Eucarida

Name

Eumalacostraca Grobben, 1892

Reference

* C. Grobben (1892). Zur Kenntnis des Stammbaumes und des Systems der Crustaceen. Sitzber. K. Akad. Wiss., Vienna, Math. Nat. Cl. 101: 237-274.
* Martin, J.W. & Davis, G.E., (2001). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea. Science Series 39, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

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The Eumalacostraca (Greek: "true soft shell") are a subclass of crustaceans, containing almost all living malacostracans, about 22,000 described species. (The outgroups are the Phyllocarida and possibly the Hoplocarida or mantis shrimps.)

Eumalacostracans have 19 segments (5 cephalic, 8 thoracic, 6 abdominal). The thoracic limbs are jointed and used for swimming or walking. The common ancestor is thought to have had a carapace, and most living species possess one, but it has been lost in some subgroups.

Classification

Martin and Davis [1] present a classification of living eumalacostracans into orders, to which extinct orders have been added, indicated by †.

The group as originally described by Karl Grobben [2] included the Stomatopoda (mantis shrimp), and some modern experts continue to use this definition. This article follows Martin and Davis in excluding them; they are placed in their own subclass, Hoplocarida.
References

1. ^ J. W. Martin & G. E. Davis (2001) (PDF). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 132 pp. http://atiniui.nhm.org/pdfs/3839/3839.pdf.
2. ^ C. Grobben (1892). "Zur Kenntnis des Stammbaumes und des Systems der Crustaceen". Sitzber. K. Akad. Wiss., Vienna, Math. Nat. Cl. 101: 237–274.