Entoniscidae | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Isopoda |
Suborder: | Cymothoida |
Infraorder: | Epicaridea |
Superfamily: | Bopyroidea |
Family: | Entoniscidae Kossmann, 1881[1] |
Genera | |
see text |
The Entoniscidae are a family of marine isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida.[2] Members of this family are parasites of brachyuran and anomuran crabs, living in their hosts' haemocoel. A small chitinised hole develops through the host's exoskeleton through which the isopod can communicate with the environment. The female isopod bears little resemblance to any free-living isopod, but the morphology of the larvae show their taxonomic affiliations.[3]