''Ceratoserolis'' is a genus of

isopod Isopoda is an Order (biology), order of crustaceans. Members of this group are called isopods and include both Aquatic animal, aquatic species and Terrestrial animal, terrestrial species such as woodlice. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons ...

s in the family Serolidae from the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

around Antarctica and some Sub-Antarctic Islands. They prefer to live on soft bottoms and range of least between in depth. They are superficially similar to the unrelated, extinct

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinction, extinct marine arthropods that form the class (biology), class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most succ ...

s (hence the specific name ''trilobitoides'' for the first described species) and reach up to about in length. They were once considered to be part of the genus '' Serolis'' and for a long time only ''Ceratoserolis trilobitoides'' was recognized. The validity of the other species has been disputed, but there are some morphological and genetic differences between them and ''C. trilobitoides'', and there are indications that additional, currently unrecognized species of ''Ceratoserolis'' exist. Because ''Ceratoserolis'' are widespread, locally abundant and relatively large for isopods, they have often been studied and used as

model organism A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Mo ...

for the Antarctic region. They are slow-maturing, only breed once in their life, and the eggs and young are brooded for an extended period—almost two years—in the female's marsupium. As is typical of Antarctic isopods, there is no pelagic larval stage.

Species

There are four currently recognized species: *'' Ceratoserolis meridionalis'' (Vanhoeffen, 1914) *'' Ceratoserolis pasternaki'' (Kussakin, 1967) *'' Ceratoserolis serratus'' (Brandt, 1988) *'' Ceratoserolis trilobitoides'' (Eights, 1833)

References

Sphaeromatidea Isopod genera {{isopod-stub