Spelaeogriphacea is an order of crustaceans that grow to no more than 10 millimetres (0.39 in). Little is known about the ecology of the order.[1]

Spelaeogriphacea
Temporal range: Lower Carboniferous – Recent
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Subclass: Eumalacostraca
Superorder: Peracarida
Order: Spelaeogriphacea
Gordon, 1957
Genera

Only four species, all subterranean, have been described. Of the three genera, Potiicoara is known only from a cave in Brazil's Mato Grosso, Spelaeogriphus only from a cave on Table Mountain in South Africa, and the two Mangkurtu species only from individual Australian aquifers.[1] Fossils of the group are known from the Early Carboniferous of Canada (Acadiocaris) and the Early Cretaceous of Spain (Spinogriphus, Las Hoyas) and China (Liaoningogriphus, Yixian Formation), which are assigned to the family Acadiocarididae.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b D. Jaume (2008). "Global diversity of spelaeogriphaceans & thermosbaenaceans (Crustacea; Spelaeogriphacea & Thermosbaenacea) in freshwater". Hydrobiologia. 595 (1): 219–224. doi:10.1007/s10750-007-9017-1. hdl:10261/103495. S2CID 24614871.
  2. ^ Jaume, Damià; Pinardo-Moya, Eva; Boxshall, Geoff A. (January 2013). "A presumed spelaeogriphacean crustacean from an upper Barremian wetland (Las Hoyas; Lower Cretaceous; Central Spain)". Palaeontology. 56 (1): 15–28. Bibcode:2013Palgy..56...15J. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01144.x. ISSN 0031-0239.
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