Majoidea

Majoidea Temporal range: Cenomanian–Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Macropodia rostrata (Inachidae)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Infraorder:	Brachyura
Section:	Eubrachyura
Subsection:	Heterotremata
Superfamily:	Majoidea Samouelle, 1819

Majoidea is a superfamily of crabs which includes the various spider crabs.

Taxonomy

It comprises five or six Recent families:^[1]

• Epialtidae
• Hymenosomatidae – may not belong here^[2]
• Inachidae
• Inachoididae
• Majidae
• Oregoniidae

The families "Pisidae" and "Tychidae" are now treated as the subfamilies Pisinae and Tychinae of the family Epialtidae, and "Mithracidae" is now treated as the subfamily Mithracinae of the family Majidae.^[1]

Classification according to WoRMS :

• family Epialtidae MacLeay, 1838
• family Hymenosomatidae MacLeay, 1838
• family Inachidae MacLeay, 1838
• family Inachoididae Dana, 1851
• family Majidae Samouelle, 1819 – "true" spider crabs
• family Mithracidae Balss, 1929
• family Oregoniidae Garth, 1958
• family Pisidae Dana, 1851

Notable species within the superfamily include:

• Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi), the largest living species of crab, found on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
• Libinia emarginata, the portly spider crab, a species of crab found in estuarine habitats on the east coast of North America.
• Hyas, a genus of spider crabs, including the great spider crab (Hyas araneus), found in the Atlantic and the North Sea.
• Maja squinado, sometimes called the "European long leg crab or pie faced crab" because of the way its face is shaped.

There is one fossil family, Priscinachidae, represented by a single species, Priscinachus elongatus, from the Cenomanian of France.^[3]

• 

  Hoplophrys oatesi, a Epialtidae

• 

  Limnopilos naiyanetri, a Hymenosomatidae

• 

  Macrocheira kaempferi, a Inachidae

• 

  Pyromaia cuspidata, a Inachoididae

• 

  Maja squinado, a Majidae

• 

  Hyas coarctatus, a Oregoniidae

References

1. Sammy De Grave, N. Dean Pentcheff, Shane T. Ahyong; et al. (2009). "A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Suppl. 21: 1–109.
2. Danièle Guinot (2011). "The position of the Hymenosomatidae MacLeay, 1838, within the Brachyura (Crustacea, Decapoda)" (PDF excerpt). Zootaxa 2890: 40–52.
3. Gérard Breton (2009). "Description of Priscinachus elongatus n. gen., n. sp., and Priscinachidae n. fam. for the earliest spider crab (Crustacea, Decapoda, Majoidea), from the French Cretaceous (Cenomanian)" (PDF). Geodiversitas 31 (3): 509–523. doi:10.5252/g2009n3a2.

External links

• Data related to Majoidea at Wikispecies