Parastacidae

Parastacidae
Cherax destructor
Systematics
Class : Higher crabs (Malacostraca) Order : Decapods (decapoda) Subordination : Pleocyemata Partial order : Large crayfish (Astacidea) Superfamily : Parastacoidea Family : Parastacidae
Scientific name of the  superfamily
Parastacoidea
Huxley , 1879
Scientific name of the  family
Parastacidae
Huxley , 1879

Distribution of the Parastacidae

The Parastacidae are a family of the decapods and the only family of the superfamily of the Parastacoidea . It includes all large crabs living in freshwater in the southern hemisphere . Those of the northern hemisphere are grouped together in the superfamily of the crayfish (Astacoidea).

features

Like all large crabs, the Parastacidae have a more or less cylindrical carapace that ends in a well-developed, dorsoventrally flattened rostrum. The pleon is always elongated and symmetrical. The tail fan formed by telson and uropods is relatively large. The first three pairs of striding legs carry scissors , the ones on the first pair being greatly enlarged.

The sternum of the last breast segment is not fused to the front with that of the penultimate breast segment. The telson is at most incompletely divided by a transverse seam. Both sexes have no first pair of swimming legs .

distribution

The genera of the Parastacidae are distributed in Chile, Uruguay, southern Brazil, Madagascar, New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia, with over 85% of the species occurring in Australia.

Systematics

The Parastacidae are the sister group of the crayfish and form with them a monophyletic group within the large crayfish. The separation from the crayfish native to the northern hemisphere probably came about with the breakup of Pangea about 185 million years ago.

The Parastacidae family consists of 18 genera (three of which are exclusively fossil-based) with a total of 192 recently known species (as of 2017):

• Astacoides Guérin-Méneville , 1839 . Seven species endemic to the island of Madagascar.
• Astacopsis Huxley, 1879 . Three types. Endemic to the island of Tasmania.
  • Astacopsis gouldi
• Cherax Erichson, 1846 . 52 species. Australia and New Guinea.
  • Zebra crab ( Cherax peknyi )
  • Cherax destructor
  • Cherax quadricarinatus
  • Cherax tenuimanus Smith, 1912
• Engaeus Erichson, 1846 . 35 species. Eastern Australia and Tasmania.
  • Engaeus lengana
• Engaewa Riek, 1967 . Five types. Endemic to the Warren Bioregion, Southeast Australia.
• Euastacus E. M. Clark, 1936 . 53 species. Southeast Australia.
  • Euastacus spinifer
• Geocharax E. M. Clark, 1936 . Two types. Endemic to Victoria (Australia) and Tasmania.
• Gramastacus Riek, 1972 . Two types. Endemic to Victoria and New South Wales , Australia.
• Ombrastacoides Hansen & Richardson, 2006 . Eleven species. Endemic to Tasmania.
• Paranephrops White, 1842 . Two types. New Zealand (North and South Island), plus one that is only known to be fossilized.
• Parastacus Huxley, 1879 . Eleven species. South America (Brazil, Uruguay, Northeast Argentina and Chile).
• Samastacus Riek, 1971 . The only kind of Samastacus spinifrons . Endemic to Chile.
• Spinastacoides Hansen & Richardson, 2006 . Three types. Endemic to Tasmania.
• Tenuibranchiurus Riek, 1951 The only species Tenuibranchiurus glypticus . Southeast coast of Australia (Queensland and New South Wales).
• Virilastacus Hobbs, 1991 . Four types. Chile.

Fossil genera are:

• † Aenigmastacus Feldmann, Schweitzer & Leahy, 2011
• † Lammuastacus Aguirre-Urreta, 1992
• † Palaeoechinastacus A. J. Martin, Rich, Poore, Schultz, Austin, Kool & Vickers-Rich, 2008

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Alfred Kaestner: Textbook of Special Zoology . Ed .: Hans-Eckhard Gruner. 4th edition. tape 1 : invertebrates; 4th part: Arthropoda (without Insecta). Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena Stuttgart New York 1993, ISBN 3-334-60404-7 , p. 996 .
2. ↑ James W. Fetzner Jr .: Family Parastacidae Huxley, 1879. Crayfish & Lobster Taxonomy Browser , version of January 8, 2019.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Keith A. Crandall, Jennifer E. Buhay: Global diversity of crayfish (Astacidae, Cambaridae, and Parastacidae - Decapoda) in freshwater . In: Hydrobiologia . tape 595 , 2008, p. 295-301 , doi : 10.1007 / s10750-007-9120-3 .
4. ↑ Keith A. Crandall & Sammy De Grave (2017): An updated classification of the freshwater crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidea) of the world, with a complete species list. Journal of Crustacean Biology 37 (5): 615-653. doi: 10.1093 / jcbiol / rux070

Web links

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