The
Stenopodidea is a small group of
decapod crustaceans. Often confused with
shrimp or
prawns, they are neither, but belong in a group closer to the
reptant decapods, such as
lobsters and
crabs. They may be easily recognised by their third
pereiopod (walking leg), which is greatly enlarged. In the lobsters and crabs, it is the first pereiopod that is much bigger than the others. There are 71 extant species currently recognised, divided into 12 genera. Three fossil species are also recognised, each belonging to a separate genus. The earliest fossil assigned to the Stenopodidea is
Devonostenopus pennsylvaniensis from the
Devonian. Until
D. pennsylvaniensis was discovered, the oldest known member of the group was
Jilinicaris chinensis from the
Late Cretaceous.
- Macromaxillocarididae Alvarez, Iliffe & Villalobos, 2006
- Spongicolidae Schram, 1986
- Engystenopus Alcock & Anderson, 1894
- Globospongicola Komai & Saito, 2006
- Jilinicaris † Schram, Shen, Vonk & Taylor, 2000
- Microprosthema Stimpson, 1860
- Paraspongicola De Saint Laurent & Cléva, 1981
- Spongicola De Haan, 1844
- Spongicoloides Hansen, 1908
- Spongiocaris Bruce & Baba, 1973
- Stenopodidae Claus, 1872
- Devonostenopus † Jones et al., 2014
- Juxtastenopus Goy, 2010
- Odontozona Holthuis, 1946
- Phoenice † Garassino, 2001
- Richardina A. Milne-Edwards, 1881
- Stenopus Latreille, 1819
