Heterotremata is a clade of crabs, comprising those crabs in which the genital openings are on the sternum in females, but on the legs in males. It comprises 68 families in 28 superfamilies.[1]
Heterotremata is the sister group to Thoracotremata within the clade Eubrachyura, having diverged during the Cretaceous period. Eubrachyura itself is a subset of the larger clade Brachyura, which consists of all "true crabs". A summary of the high-level internal relationships within Brachyura can be shown in the cladogram below: [2][3]
Brachyura EubrachyuraHeterotremata
The internal relationships within Heterotremata are less certain, with many of the superfamilies found to be invalid. The proposed cladogram below is from analysis by Tsang et al, 2014:[2]
Heterotremata Freshwater crabs Potamoidea (Old World freshwater crabs)Pseudothelphusidae (New World freshwater crabs)
Trichodactylidae (freshwater crabs)
Dorippoidea MajoideaEpialtidae (paraphyletic)
Pilumnoidea XanthoideaXanthidae (paraphyletic)
However, recent studies have found the following superfamilies and families to not be monophyletic, but rather paraphyletic or polyphyletic:[2][3]
Heterotremata is a clade of crabs, comprising those crabs in which the genital openings are on the sternum in females, but on the legs in males. It comprises 68 families in 28 superfamilies.
