Galatheidae Samouelle 1819
Creators: name: Ahyong, Shane T.
name: Baba, Keiji
name: Macpherson, Enrique
name: Poore, Gary C. B.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Galatheidae

description: Galatheidae Samouelle, 1819  (Figs 1B–F, 2A–D)  
Galatheadae Samouelle, 1819: 92.  
Galatheidae. — Dana, 1853: 1431.  
Galatheinae. — A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1894: 244.  
 Diagnosis. Rostrum well developed, broad, flattened, usually subtriangular; supraocular spines present or absent. Carapace (excluding rostrum) as long as or longer than wide; dorsally with transverse striae. Tailfan well developed, not folded against preceding somite, telson distinctly or indistinctly subdivided into multiple plates. Eyes with well-developed cornea. Antennal peduncle directed anteriorly or anterolaterally. Maxilliped 1 exopod flagellum well-developed. Maxilliped 3 pediform; ischium and merus elongate, not expanded mesially; epipod present. Chelipeds subcylindical to ovate in cross-section.   
 Type genus. Galathea Fabricius, 1793.   
 Composition. Extant genera: Alainius Baba, 1991; Allogalathea Baba, 1969; Allomunida Baba, 1988; Coralliogalathea Baba & Javed, 1974; Fennerogalathea Baba, 1988; Galathea Fabricius, 1793; Janetogalathea Baba & Wicksten, 1997; Lauriea Baba, 1971; Macrothea Macpherson & Cleva, 2010; Nanogalathea Tirmizi & Javed, 1980; Phylladiorhynchus Baba, 1969.   
 Fossil genera: Acanthogalathea Müller & Collins, 1991 [Upper Eocene]; Lessinigalathea De Angeli & Garassino, 2002 [Lower Eocene]; Luisogalathea Karasawa & Hayakawa, 2000 [Upper Cretaceous]; Mesogalathea Houša, 1963 [Upper Jurassic to Cretaceous]; Palaeomunida Lőrenthey, 1901 [Upper Jurassic to Oligocene]; Spathagalathea De Angeli & Garassino, 2002 [Upper Eocene]; Lophoraninella Glaessner, 1945 [Upper Cretaceous].   
 Remarks. The Galatheidae are distinguished from the Munidopsidae by the presence of a well-developed flagellum on maxilliped 1 (absent or reduced in munidopsids), and from the Munididae fam. nov. by the broad and flattened rostrum (versus a usually slender rostrum with supraocular spines). The Galatheidae are herein restricted to the 11 extant and seven fossil genera formerly placed in the Galatheinae, sharing a broad, triangular rostrum. We follow De Angeli & Garssino (2002) in treating Spathogalathea as a galatheid, although we suspect it may be better placed in the Porcellanidae on the basis of the raised orbital rims, a feature often present in porcellanids but not galatheids.   
 Galatheids are more closely related to the porcelain crabs, Porcellanidae, than to other clades of squat lobsters (Ahyong et al. 2009). Both families share a broad, flattened rostrum (though considerably shortened in porcellanids). Additionally, both galatheids and porcellanids are typically small (carapace length usually <15 mm) and usually occupy shallow-water or shelf habitats on rocky substrates or coral reefs, in contrast to outer shelf and slope habitats of typical munidids and munidopsids.
description: Published as part of Ahyong, Shane T., Baba, Keiji, Macpherson, Enrique & Poore, Gary C. B., 2010, A new classification of the Galatheoidea (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura), pp. 57-68 in Zootaxa 2676 (1) on page 59, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2676.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5302184