MORPHOLOGY-BASED PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE CLAWED LOBSTERS (FAMILYNEPHROPIDAE AND THE NEW FAMILY CHILENOPHOBERIDAE)

The phylogeny of extinct and extant clawed lobsters is interpreted usi ng a morphology-based phylogenetic analysis. Twenty-one genera, repres enting two clades, are grouped into either the redefined family Nephro pidae or the new family Chilenophoberidae. Chilenophoberids, the primi tive sister group of nephropids, share a close common ancestry with me mbers of the Erymidae, and arose by the Middle Jurassic. Nephropids ar ose by the Early Cretaceous. Among clawed lobsters, no one morphologic al character is generally more reliable than any other as a guide to p hylogeny. Homoplasy in aspects of groove pattern, ornamentation, and t he appendages is widespread. The ubiquity of homoplasy in lobster evol ution argues against the practice of erecting suprageneric taxonomic g roups based on a few, intuitively selected characters. Cretaceous lobs ters strongly resemble Recent ones, and no long-term, directional evol utionary trends were detected.