Meeting Abstract

33.10  Friday, Jan. 4  A morphologically based phylogenetic framework for the Caridea (Crustacea, Decapoda) DE GRAVE, S; Oxford University Museum of Natural History sammy.degrave@oum.ox.ac.uk

A phylogenetic framework is presented for the Caridea, based on a morphological cladistic analysis. The analysed matrix comprises 49 characters and 29 species as terminal taxa, selected from across all currently accepted superfamilies. The majority of phylogenetically informative characters are derived from mouthpart structure and gill formulae, in addition a novel approach is presented to the problem of interpretating the morphologically diverse chelipeds in a transformation series. Further, the validity of several characters used in previous cladistic analysis is discussed, whilst potentially informative characters are highlighted for future incorporation in the data matrix. On the basis of a whole suit of characters, the phylogenic tree clearly indicates that the Procarididea cannot be accommodated within the Caridea as currently defined, and the infraorder Procaridoidea is supported by several synapomorphies. Attention is drawn to the incongruence with the current, phenetic classification system, and the non-monophyly of several superfamilies.