The Glypheoidea (containing the glypheoid lobsters), is a group of

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

-like

decapod The Decapoda or decapods, from Ancient Greek δεκάς (''dekás''), meaning "ten", and πούς (''poús''), meaning "foot", is a large order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, and includes crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, and p ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s which forms an important part of fossil faunas, such as the

Solnhofen limestone The Solnhofen Limestone or Solnhofen Plattenkalk, formally known as the Altmühltal Formation, is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organi ...

. These fossils included taxa such as ''

Glyphea ''Glyphea'' is a genus of fossil glypheoid crustaceans that lived from the Jurassic to the Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the P ...

'' (from which the group takes its name), and ''

Mecochirus ''Mecochirus'' is an extinct genus of lobster-like decapod crustaceans, containing 17 species. The Maxberg Specimen of ''Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird'') is a genus ...

'', mostly with elongated (often semichelate)

cheliped A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-shaped organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through Neo-Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds ...

s. This group of decapods is a good example of a

living fossil A living fossil is a Deprecation, deprecated term for an extant taxon that phenotypically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of or ...

, or a

lazarus taxon In paleontology, a Lazarus taxon (plural ''taxa'') is a taxon that disappears for one or more periods from the fossil record, only to appear again either in later fossil records, or as actual living organisms, and often in isolated, obscure, ...

, since until their discovery in the 1970s, the group was considered to have become

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

in the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

. The

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Glypheoidea comprises five

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

. The two

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

species, ''

Neoglyphea inopinata ''Neoglyphea inopinata'' is a species of glypheoid lobster, a group thought long extinct before ''Neoglyphea'' was discovered. It is a lobster-like animal, up to around in length, although without claws. It is only known from 17 specimens, caug ...

'' and ''

Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica ''Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica'' is a species of glypheoid lobster, and the only species in the genus ''Laurentaeglyphea''. It is known from a single specimen collected on a guyot in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Caledonia. It is tho ...

'', are both in the family

Glypheidae The Glypheoidea (containing the glypheoid lobsters), is a group of lobster-like Decapoda, decapod crustaceans which forms an important part of fossil faunas, such as the Solnhofen limestone. These fossils included taxa such as ''Glyphea'' (from wh ...

Prehistoric abundance

The first animals attributable to the Glypheoidea appeared in the Permo-

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

. They were abundant in the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

, but declined from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

to the

Extant taxa

The Glypheoidea was originally considered to be a purely fossil group. That opinion had to be altered when a single male specimen was discovered in the collections of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

in 1975. It had been caught off the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in 1908 and preserved, without its full significance being realised. Over sixty years later, the specimen was rediscovered, and described by two French scientists as a new genus and species, ''

'' in 1975, meaning "unexpected new ''Glyphea''". More individuals were caught on subsequent expeditions in 1976, 1980 and 1985, allowing for a complete description. A second species was discovered in the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

, near

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, in 2005. First described as ''Neoglyphea neocaledonica'', in 2006, it has been transferred to a new genus ''Laurentaeglyphea'', much closer to fossil forms.

Classification

Naturkundemuseum Berlin - Mecochirus longimanatus - Solnhofen

Five families are recognised, containing a total of 21 genera, all but two of which are extinct (extant taxa marked in boldface): *† Chimaerastacidae :*† '' Chimaerastacus'' *

:*† '' Cedrillosa'' :*† ''

'' :*''

Laurentaeglyphea ''Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica'' is a species of Glypheoidea, glypheoid lobster, and the only species in the genus ''Laurentaeglyphea''. It is known from a single specimen collected on a guyot in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Caledoni ...

'' :*'' Neoglyphea'' :*† '' Paralitogaster'' :*† '' Squamosoglyphea'' :*† '' Trachysoma'' *† Mecochiridae :*† '' Huhatanka'' :*† '' Jabaloya'' :*† ''

'' :*† '' Meyeria'' :*† '' Preatya'' :*† '' Pseudoglyphea'' :*† '' Selenisca'' *† Pemphicidae :*† '' Pemphix'' :*† '' Pseudopemphix'' :*† '' Sinopemphix'' *† Platychelidae :*† '' Glaessnericaris'' :*† '' Platychela'' :*† '' Platypleon''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q141550 Glypheidea Lopingian first appearances Extant Permian first appearances Arthropod superfamilies