ABSTRACT

The shrimp-like Decapoda currently include the suborder Dendrobranchiata and the infraorders Caridea and Stenopodidea within the suborder Pleocyemata. Their phylogenetic relationship with the other Decapoda, as well as previously proposed internal phylogenies, are reviewed. This review shows that only a small percentage of the shrimp-like decapod taxa is incorporated in phylogenetic analyses at higher to lower taxonomic levels and that there remain numerous controversies between and within analyses based on morphological characters and molecular markers. The morphological and molecular characters thus far used in phylogenetic reconstructions are evaluated. It is suggested that when a robust morphological matrix is available, the addition of fossil taxa will be worthwhile, in view of their unique morphology and ecology. A review of potentially phylogenetically informative characters across all caridean families is sorely lacking; such a review needs to be instigated to assess foregut morphology and the mastigobranch-setobranch complex, to name but a few important characters.