What organisms are in the class malacostraca?

Malacostraca is the largest of the six classes of crustaceans, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members display a great diversity of body forms and include crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, woodlice, amphipods, mantis shrimp and many other, less familiar animals.

What are the characteristics of the crustaceans?

Crustaceans are a group of animals that have a hard exoskeleton, jointed legs, and a segmented body that is bilaterally symmetrical. They have two pairs of sensory antennae, one pair of mandibles (for chewing food), and two pairs of maxillae (to help the mandibles in positioning the food).

What are the orders of malacostraca?

Four malacostracan orders are illustrated here: the Amphipoda, the Isopoda, the Stomatopoda and the Decapoda (crabs and lobsters). Many of these animals are of great importance as food, pests and parasites. They also include the few crustacea which have successfully colonised land.

Where are malacostraca found?

Most malacostracans live in the marine environments,but a few are found in the freshwater and terrestrial environments. They occupy all three dimensions in the water column, such as crawling on top of the sediment, burrowing in the substrate, or swimming with the oceans currents.

What characteristics make crustaceans different from other arthropods?

Crustaceans are generally aquatic and differ from other arthropods in having two pairs of appendages (antennules and antennae) in front of the mouth and paired appendages near the mouth that function as jaws.

What are 2 examples of crustaceans?

Crustaceans (Crustacea /krʌˈsteɪʃə/) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp.

How do Malacostraca feed?

Burrowing and small groundwater malacostracans are filter feeders, consuming microorganisms and bacteria from the sediments. Terrestrial isopods and amphipods consume forest leaf litter and algae at the tide lines. Malacostracans capture or obtain their food primarily by using their thoracic legs.

Which one is known as king crab?

king crab, also called Alaskan king crab, or Japanese crab, (Paralithodes camtschaticus), marine crustacean of the order Decapoda, class Malacostraca. This edible crab is found in the shallow waters off Japan, along the coast of Alaska, and in the Bering Sea.

How do you pronounce Malacostraca?

What are the four main features of a crustaceans body?

The four main features of a crustaceans body are : Two distinct body sections, a hard exoskeleton, two pairs of antennae, & one pair of appendages on each segment.

What are crustaceans and examples?

Crustacean/Lower classifications

What is the structure of crustaceans?

Structure of crustaceans

Crustaceans have three distinct body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen (or pleon), although the head and thorax may fuse to form a cephalothorax. The head bears two pairs of antennae, one pair of compound eyes and three pairs of mouthparts.

What are the 7 characteristics of arthropods?

The important characteristics of arthropoda include:
  • They possess an exoskeleton.
  • They have jointed appendages.
  • Their body is segmented.
  • They are bilaterally symmetrical.
  • They possess an open circulatory system.

What are the 4 main classes of arthropods?

Arthropods are divided into four major groups:
  • insects;
  • myriapods (including centipedes and millipedes);
  • arachnids (including spiders, mites and scorpions);
  • crustaceans (including slaters, prawn and crabs).