Anaspidacea is an

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

s, comprising eleven genera in four families. Species in the family

Anaspididae Anaspididae is a family of freshwater crustacean that is endemic to Tasmania, Australia. The family contains 3 genera and 5 species. This group of crustaceans are considered living fossils. They are commonly and collectively known as the Tasmani ...

vary from being strict stygobionts (only living underground) to species living in lakes, streams and moorland pools, and are found only in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Koonungidae is found in Tasmania and the south-eastern part of the Australian mainland, where they live in the

burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of s ...

s made by

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, ...

and in caves. The families Psammaspididae and Stygocarididae are both restricted to caves, but Stygocarididae has a much wider distribution than the other families, with '' Parastygocaris'' having species in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

as well as Australia; two other genera in the family are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to South America, and one, '' Stygocarella'', is endemic to New Zealand.

Genera

Thomson, 1893 **'' Allanaspides'' Swain, Wilson, Hickman & Ong, 1970 – Tasmania **''

Anaspides Anaspididae is a family of freshwater crustacean that is endemic to Tasmania, Australia. The family contains 3 genera and 5 species. This group of crustaceans are considered living fossils. They are commonly and collectively known as the Tasmania ...

'' Thomson, 1894 – Tasmania **'' Paranaspides'' Smith, 1908 – Tasmania * Koonungidae Sayce, 1908 **'' Koonunga'' Sayce, 1907 – south-eastern Australia and Tasmania **'' Micraspides'' Nicholls, 1931 – south-eastern Australia and Tasmania * Psammaspididae Schminke, 1974 **'' Eucrenonaspides'' Knott & Lake, 1980 – Tasmania **'' Psammaspides'' Schminke, 1974 – south-eastern Australia * Stygocarididae Noodt, 1963 **'' Oncostygocaris'' Schminke, 1980 – southern South America **'' Parastygocaris'' Noodt, 1963 – southern South America **'' Stygocarella'' Schminke, 1980 – New Zealand **'' Stygocaris'' Noodt, 1963 – southern South America, south-eastern Australia and New Zealand

References

Syncarida Crustacean orders Freshwater crustaceans {{Malacostraca-stub