Malacostraca is the largest of the six classes

Class (biology)

In biological classification, class is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, order, family, genus, and species, with class fitting between phylum and order...

 of 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, containing over 25,000 extant species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, divided among 16 orders

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

. Its members display a greater diversity of body forms than any other class of animals, and include crab

Crab

True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...

s, lobster

Lobster

Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...

s, shrimp

Shrimp

Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...

, krill

Krill

Krill is the common name given to the order Euphausiacea of shrimp-like marine crustaceans. Also known as euphausiids, these small invertebrates are found in all oceans of the world...

, woodlice

Woodlouse

A woodlouse is a crustacean with a rigid, segmented, long exoskeleton and fourteen jointed limbs...

, scuds (Amphipoda

Amphipoda

Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. The name amphipoda means "different-footed", and refers to the different forms of appendages, unlike isopods, where all the legs are alike. Of the 7,000 species, 5,500 are classified...

), mantis shrimp

Mantis shrimp

Mantis shrimp or stomatopods are marine crustaceans, the members of the order Stomatopoda. They are neither shrimp nor mantids, but receive their name purely from the physical resemblance to both the terrestrial praying mantis and the shrimp. They may reach in length, although exceptional cases of...

 and many other less familiar animals. They are abundant in all marine environments and have also colonised freshwater and terrestrial habitats. They are united by a common , comprising 20 body segments (rarely 21), divided into a head, thorax and abdomen.
Malacostracans live in a wide range of marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 and freshwater

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

 habitats, and three orders have terrestrial

Terrestrial animal

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...

 members: Amphipoda (Talitridae

Talitridae

Talitridae is a family of amphipods. Commonly, many of the North American fresh water species of this family are called scuds. Terrestrial species are often referred to as landhoppers and beach dwellers are called sandhoppers or sand fleas.It contains the following genera:*Africorchestia Lowry &...

), Isopoda (Oniscidea, the woodlice

Woodlouse

A woodlouse is a crustacean with a rigid, segmented, long exoskeleton and fourteen jointed limbs...

) and Decapoda (terrestrial hermit crabs

Coenobitidae

Coenobitidae are a family of hermit crabs, widely known for their terrestrial habits. There are 17 species in two genera:*Coenobita Latreille, 1829*Coenobita brevimanus Dana, 1852*Coenobita carnescens Dana, 1851...

, crab

Crab

True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...

s of the families Ocypodidae

Ocypodidae

Ocypodidae is a family of crabs that includes the ghost crabs and fiddler crabs. Other genera previously included in the family are now treated as members of separate families in the superfamily Ocypodoidea, such as Ucididae, Dotillidae and Macrophthalmidae....

, Gecarcinidae and Grapsidae

Grapsidae

Grapsidae is a family of crabs known variously as marsh crabs, shore crabs or talon crabs. It is not confirmed that the family forms a monophyletic group and some taxa may belong in other families...

, and terrestrial crayfish

Crayfish

Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...

).