ABSTRACT
We undertook a morphological analysis to test whether the Podotremata or primitive crabs including Dromiacea, Homoloidea, Raninoidea, and Cyclodorippoidea form a monophyletic group. We can show that the podotrematan subgroups are all monophyletic. Furthermore, our data clearly suggest that Cyclodorippoidea is the sister group to Eubrachyura, that the Raninoidea is the sister group to both, that the Homoloidea is the sister group to this clade, and that all of them are the sister group to Dromiacea ((((Eubrachyura, Cyclodorippoidea), Raninoidea), Homoloidea), Dromiacea). Hence the Podotremata is a paraphyletic assemblage. With this result we corroborate recent molecular studies.
