The phylogenetic position of the ‘living fossils’ Neoglyphea and Laurentaeglyphea (Decapoda: Glypheidea)

The Glypheidea is a group of lobster-like decapods that appeared in the Triassic and that was thought to be extinct until 1975, when a specimen of the species Neoglyphea inopinata was caught off the Philippines. More recently, in 2005, a specimen of another glypheid species, Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica, was discovered near New Caledonia. Here, we construct a decapod molecular data set including the two extant glypheid species sequenced from eight nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Our study strongly shows that the two extant genera of glypheids cluster together, and further confirms the status of Glypheidea as a separate infraorder. Moreover the reptantian decapods are divided into two major groups, one including Brachyura, Anomura, and Axiidea, and the other including Astacidea, Polychelida, Achelata, and Glypheidea. Although commonly nicknamed ‘Jurassic shrimps’ and considered as ‘living fossils’, glypheids are therefore a derived decapod lineage.