Nephropoidea
Encyclopedia
Nephropoidea is a superfamily
of decapod
crustacean
s. It contains the true lobsters in the Nephropidae
(including the rare thaumastochelid
lobsters), and three fossil families: Chilenophoberidae, Protastacidae and Stenochiridae. Their closest relatives are the reef lobster
s.
Taxonomic rank
In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...
of decapod
Decapoda
The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp. Most decapods are scavengers. It is estimated that the order contains nearly 15,000 species in around 2,700 genera, with...
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 contains the true lobsters in the Nephropidae
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...
(including the rare thaumastochelid
Thaumastochelidae
The family Thaumastochelidae contains five known species of deep-sea lobsters, three in the genus Thaumastocheles, and two in the genus Thaumastochelopsis. The fifth species was discovered in the ten–year Census of Marine Life...
lobsters), and three fossil families: Chilenophoberidae, Protastacidae and Stenochiridae. Their closest relatives are the reef lobster
Reef lobster
Reef lobsters, Enoplometopus, are a genus of small lobsters that live on reefs in the Indo-Pacific, Caribbean and warmer parts of the east Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
s.