Anomura

The name Anomura derives from an old classification in which reptant decapods were divided into Macrura (long-tailed), Brachyura (short-tailed) and Anomura (differently-tailed). The alternative name Anomala reflects the unusual variety of forms in this group; whereas all crabs share some obvious similarities, the various groups of anomurans are quite dissimilar.^[3]

The group has been moulded by several instances of carcinisation – the development of a crab-like body form.^[4] Thus, the king crabs (Lithodidae), porcelain crabs (Porcellanidae) and hairy stone crab (Lomisidae) are all separate instances of carcinisation.^[4]

As decapods (meaning ten-legged), anomurans have ten pereiopods, but the last pair of these is reduced in size, and often hidden inside the gill chamber (under the carapace) to be used for cleaning the gills.^[5][3] Since this arrangement is very rare in true crabs (for example, the small family Hexapodidae),^[6] a "crab" with only eight visible pereiopods is generally an anomuran.^[3]

The infraorder Anomura belongs to the group Reptantia, which consists of the walking/crawling decapods (lobsters and crabs). There is wide acceptance from morphological and molecular data that Anomura and Brachyura (true crabs) are sister taxa, together making up the clade Meiura.^[4] Anomura likely diverged from Brachyura in the Late Triassic period, with the earliest discovered Anomuran fossil Platykotta akaina dating from the Norian–Rhaetian aged Ghalilah Formation of the United Arab Emirates.^[1]

The cladogram below shows Anomura's placement within the larger order Decapoda, from analysis by Wolfe et al. (2019).^[7]

Some of the internal relationships within Anomura can be shown in the cladogram below, which shows Hippidae as sister to Paguroidea, and resolves Parapaguridae outside of Paguroidea:^[7]

The infraorder Anomura contained seven extant superfamilies:^{[8][9][10][11]}

Superfamily	Members	Families	Photo
Aegloidea	Aegla	Aeglidae	Aegla sp.
Chirostyloidea	squat lobsters	Chirostylidae Eumunididae Kiwaidae	Eumunida picta
† Eocarcinoidea	† Eocarcinus † Platykotta	† Eocarcinidae † Platykottidae
Galatheoidea	squat lobsters porcelain crabs	Galatheidae Munididae Munidopsidae Porcellanidae † Retrorsichelidae	Munidopsis serricornis (Munidopsidae)
Hippoidea	mole crabs or sand crabs	Albuneidae Blepharipodidae Hippidae	Blepharipoda occidentalis (Blepharipodidae)
Lomisoidea	hairy stone crab	Lomisidae	Lomis hirta (Lomisidae)
Paguroidea	hermit crabs coconut crab	Coenobitidae Diogenidae Paguridae Parapaguridae Parapylochelidae Pylochelidae Pylojacquesidae	Coenobita clypeatus (Coenobitidae)

The oldest fossil attributed to Anomura is Platykotta, from the Norian–Rhaetian (Late Triassic) Period in the United Arab Emirates.^[9]

• Media related to Anomura at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Anomura at Wikispecies