Tantulocarida versus Thecostraca: inside or outside? First attempts to resolve phylogenetic position of Tantulocarida using gene sequences

Novel molecular resources for single-specimen barcoding of enigmatic crustacean y-larvae

Despite discovery more than 100years ago and documented global occurrence from shallow waters to the deep sea, the life cycle of the enigmatic crustacean y-larvae isincompletely understood and adult forms remain unknown. To date, only 2 of the 17 formally described species, all based on larval stages, have been investigated using an integrative taxonomic approach. This approach provided descriptions of the morphology of the naupliar and cyprid stages, and made use of exuvial voucher material and DNA barcodes. To improve our knowledge about the evolutionary history and ecological importance of y-larvae, we developed a novel protocol that maximises the amount of morpho-ecological and molecular data that can be harvested from single larval specimens. This includes single-specimen DNA barcoding and daily imaging of y-nauplii reared in culture dishes, mounting of the last naupliar exuviae on a slide as a reference voucher, live imaging of the y-cyprid instar that follows, and fixation, DNA extraction, amplification and sequencing of the y-cyprid specimen. Through development and testing of a suite of new primers for both nuclear and mitochondrial protein-coding and ribosomal genes, we showcase how new sequence data can be used to estimate the phylogeny of Facetotecta. We expect that our novel procedure will help to unravel the complex systematics of y-larvae and show how these fascinating larval forms have evolved. Moreover, we posit that our protocols should work on larval specimens from a diverse array of moulting marine invertebrate taxa.

The Sensory Structures of the Carapace of Male Tantulocarida (Crustacea) Are not Homologous to the Lattice Organs of Thecostraca

Ultrastructural studies on the sensory apparatus of male Tantulocarida (Crustacea) have been conducted for the first time. Comparative morphological analysis with the specialized sensory structures of Thecostraca, known as lattice organs, has allowed for conclusions about possible homologies and further clarification of the phylogenetic position of Tantulocarida.

Major Revisions in Pancrustacean Phylogeny and Evidence of Sensitivity to Taxon Sampling

The clade Pancrustacea, comprising crustaceans and hexapods, is the most diverse group of animals on earth, containing over 80% of animal species and half of animal biomass. It has been the subject of several recent phylogenomic analyses, yet relationships within Pancrustacea show a notable lack of stability. Here, the phylogeny is estimated with expanded taxon sampling, particularly of malacostracans. We show small changes in taxon sampling have large impacts on phylogenetic estimation. By analyzing identical orthologs between two slightly different taxon sets, we show that the differences in the resulting topologies are due primarily to the effects of taxon sampling on the phylogenetic reconstruction method. We compare trees resulting from our phylogenomic analyses with those from the literature to explore the large tree space of pancrustacean phylogenetic hypotheses and find that statistical topology tests reject the previously published trees in favor of the maximum likelihood trees produced here. Our results reject several clades including Caridoida, Eucarida, Multicrustacea, Vericrustacea, and Syncarida. Notably, we find Copepoda nested within Allotriocarida with high support and recover a novel relationship between decapods, euphausiids, and syncarids that we refer to as the Syneucarida. With denser taxon sampling, we find Stomatopoda sister to this latter clade, which we collectively name Stomatocarida, dividing Malacostraca into three clades: Leptostraca, Peracarida, and Stomatocarida. A new Bayesian divergence time estimation is conducted using 13 vetted fossils. We review our results in the context of other pancrustacean phylogenetic hypotheses and highlight 15 key taxa to sample in future studies.

Single-specimen systematics resolves the phylogeny and diversity conundrum of enigmatic crustacean y-larvae

Resolving the evolutionary history of organisms is a major goal in biology. Yet for some taxa the diversity, phylogeny, and even adult stages remain unknown. The enigmatic crustacean "y-larvae" (Facetotecta) is one particularly striking example. Here we use extensive video-imaging and single-specimen molecular sequencing of >200 y-larval specimens to comprehensively explore for the first time their evolutionary history and diversity. This integrative approach revealed five major clades of Facetotecta, four of which encompass a considerable larval diversity. Whereas morphological analyses recognized 35 y-naupliar "morphospecies", molecular species delimitation analyses suggested the existence of between 88 and 127 species. The phenotypic and genetic diversity between the morphospecies suggests that a more elaborate classification than the current one-genus approach is needed. Morphology and molecular data were highly congruent at shallower phylogenetic levels, but no morphological synapomorphies could be unambiguously identified for major clades, which mostly comprise both planktotrophic and lecithotrophic y-nauplii. We argue that lecithotrophy arose several times independently whereas planktotrophic y-nauplii, which are structurally more similar across clades, most likely display the ancestral feeding mode of Facetotecta. We document a remarkably complex and highly diverse phylogenetic backbone for a taxon of marine crustaceans, the full life cycle of which remains a mystery.

The evolutionary diversity of barnacles, with an updated classification of fossil and living forms

We present a comprehensive revision and synthesis of the higher-level classification of the barnacles (Crustacea: Thecostraca) to the genus level and including both extant and fossils forms. We provide estimates of the number of species in each group. Our classification scheme has been updated based on insights from recent phylogenetic studies and attempts to adjust the higher-level classifications to represent evolutionary lineages better, while documenting the evolutionary diversity of the barnacles. Except where specifically noted, recognized taxa down to family are argued to be monophyletic from molecular analysis and/or morphological data. Our resulting classification divides the Thecostraca into the subclasses Facetotecta, Ascothoracida and Cirripedia. The whole class now contains 14 orders, 65 families and 367 genera. We estimate that barnacles consist of 2116 species. The taxonomy is accompanied by a discussion of major morphological events in barnacle evolution and justifications for the various rearrangements we propose.

Towards a barnacle tree of life: integrating diverse phylogenetic efforts into a comprehensive hypothesis of thecostracan evolution

Barnacles and their allies (Thecostraca) are a biologically diverse, monophyletic crustacean group, which includes both intensely studied taxa, such as the acorn and stalked barnacles, as well as cryptic taxa, for example, Facetotecta. Recent efforts have clarified phylogenetic relationships in many different parts of the barnacle tree, but the outcomes of these phylogenetic studies have not yet been combined into a single hypothesis for all barnacles. In the present study, we applied a new "synthesis" tree approach to estimate the first working Barnacle Tree of Life. Using this approach, we integrated phylogenetic hypotheses from 27 studies, which did not necessarily include the same taxa or used the same characters, with hierarchical taxonomic information for all recognized species. This first synthesis tree contains 2,070 barnacle species and subspecies, including 239 barnacle species with phylogenetic information and 198 undescribed or unidentified species. The tree had 442 bifurcating nodes, indicating that 79.3% of all nodes are still unresolved. We found that the acorn and stalked barnacles, the Thoracica, and the parasitic Rhizocephala have the largest amount of published phylogenetic information. About half of the thecostracan families for which phylogenetic information was available were polyphyletic. We queried publicly available geographic occurrence databases for the group, gaining a sense of geographic gaps and hotspots in our phylogenetic knowledge. Phylogenetic information is especially lacking for deep sea and Arctic taxa, but even coastal species are not fully incorporated into phylogenetic studies.

History of Discovery of Parasitic Crustacea

Parasitic Crustacea have been present in scientific literature since Linnaeus introduced the first classification system (binomial nomenclature). Crustaceans are considered to be the most morphologically diverse arthropods, with currently 19 parasitic orders known to science. This chapter reviews the history of discovery for each of the major parasitic Crustacea groups, highlighting some of the key developments that have influenced our current understanding of these parasites. Each taxonomic group is briefly introduced, followed by a synopsis on some of the outstanding contributions within that group. Knowledge development is followed, from the first parasites discovered to other historical highlights that influenced the groups up to this point. Other important discoveries (both taxonomic and ecological) are also noted, serving as a preview to the host-parasite interactions covered in the subsequent chapters. Additionally, several researchers who have added significant contributions to our knowledge of the parasitic Crustacea (specifically in taxonomy and discovery) are introduced, along with photographs of a select few. This historical review of the crustacean parasites provides a background to these diverse and abundant organisms and will contribute to a better understanding of their unique niche in the aquatic environment.

Molecular Phylogeny and Revision of Copepod Orders (Crustacea: Copepoda)

For the first time, the phylogenetic relationships between representatives of all 10 copepod orders have been investigated using 28S and 18S rRNA, Histone H3 protein and COI mtDNA. The monophyly of Copepoda (including Platycopioida Fosshagen, 1985) is demonstrated for the first time using molecular data. Maxillopoda is rejected, as it is a polyphyletic group. The monophyly of the major subgroups of Copepoda, including Progymnoplea Lang, 1948 (=Platycopioida); Neocopepoda Huys and Boxshall, 1991; Gymnoplea Giesbrecht, 1892 (=Calanoida Sars, 1903); and Podoplea Giesbrecht, 1892, are supported in this study. Seven copepod orders are monophyletic, including Platycopioida, Calanoida, Misophrioida Gurney, 1933; Monstrilloida Sars, 1901; Siphonostomatoida Burmeister, 1834; Gelyelloida Huys, 1988; and Mormonilloida Boxshall, 1979. Misophrioida (=Propodoplea Lang, 1948) is the most basal Podoplean order. The order Cyclopoida Burmeister, 1835, is paraphyletic and now encompasses Poecilostomatoida Thorell, 1859, as a sister to the family Schminkepinellidae Martinez Arbizu, 2006. Within Harpacticoida Sars, 1903, both sections, Polyarthra Lang, 1948, and Oligoarthra Lang, 1948, are monophyletic, but not sister groups. The order Canuelloida is proposed while maintaining the order Harpacticoida s. str. (Oligoarthra). Cyclopoida, Harpacticoida and Cyclopinidae are redefined, while Canuelloida ordo. nov., Smirnovipinidae fam. nov. and Cyclopicinidae fam. nov are proposed as new taxa.