Furry lobster

This article is about the family Synaxidae. For the deep-sea decapod discovered in 2005, see Kiwaidae.

Furry lobsters (sometimes called coral lobsters) are small decapod crustaceans, closely related to the slipper lobsters and spiny lobsters.^[1] The antennae are not as enlarged as in spiny and slipper lobsters, and the body is covered in short hairs, hence the name furry lobster. Although previously considered a family in their own right (Synaxidae Spence Bate, 1881), the furry lobsters were subsumed into the family Palinuridae in 1990.^[2] Subsequent molecular phylogenetics studies have confirmed that the furry lobsters genera don't form a natural group and were both nested among the spiny lobster genera in family Palinuridae.^[1] The family now includes the two furry lobster genera and ten spiny lobster genera.^[3]

Furry lobster
Palinurellus gundlachi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Achelata
Family:	Palinuridae
Groups included
Palinurellus Palibythus

Taxonomy

There are two genera, with three species between them:^[4]

• Palinurellus gundlachi Von Martens, 1878 – Caribbean furry lobster, found in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic coast of South America; named for Juan Gundlach
• Palinurellus wieneckii (De Man, 1881) – mole lobster, with an Indo-Pacific distribution
• Palibythus magnificus P. J. F. Davie, 1990 – musical furry lobster, from the South Pacific (originally described from Samoa)

References

1. Ferran Palero; Keith A. Crandall; Pere Abelló; Enrique Macpherson; Marta Pascual (2009). "Phylogenetic relationships between spiny, slipper and coral lobsters (Crustacea, Decapoda, Achelata)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 50 (1): 152–162. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.10.003. PMID 18957325.
2. Joel W. Martin; George E. Davis (2001). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea (PDF). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 1–132. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
3. "Palinuridae". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
4. "Synaxidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved February 15, 2011.