Flabellifera
Encyclopedia
Flabellifera is a former suborder of isopod
crustacean
s. It is a polyphyletic
or paraphyletic
group, and contained over 3000 species. Its members are now placed in the Sphaeromatidea
and Cymothoida
.
Isopoda
Isopods are an order of peracarid crustaceans, including familiar animals such as woodlice and pill bugs. The name Isopoda derives from the Greek roots and...
crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s. It is a polyphyletic
Polyphyly
A polyphyletic group is one whose members' last common ancestor is not a member of the group.For example, the group consisting of warm-blooded animals is polyphyletic, because it contains both mammals and birds, but the most recent common ancestor of mammals and birds was cold-blooded...
or paraphyletic
Paraphyly
A group of taxa is said to be paraphyletic if the group consists of all the descendants of a hypothetical closest common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups of descendants...
group, and contained over 3000 species. Its members are now placed in the Sphaeromatidea
Sphaeromatidea
Sphaeromatidea is a suborder of isopod crustaceans, comprising the following superfamilies and families:Seroloidea*Basserolidae*Bathynataliidae*Plakarthriidae*SerolidaeSphaeromatoidea*†Archaeoniscidae*Ancinidae*Sphaeromatidae*Tecticipitidae...
and Cymothoida
Cymothoida
Cymothoida is a suborder of isopod crustaceans. It contains the following superfamilies and families:*Superfamily Anthuroidea**Antheluridae**Anthuridae**Expanathuridae**Hyssuridae**Leptanthuridae**Paranthuridae*Superfamily Cymothooidea**Aegidae...
.