page_title: Anostraca
section_title: Diversity
hierarchical_section_title: Anostraca / Diversity
caption_attribution_description: Branchinecta paludosa
context_page_description: Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are also known as fairy shrimp. They are usually 6–25 mm long. Most species have 20 body segments, bearing 11 pairs of leaf-like phyllopodia, and the body lacks a carapace. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, including pools in deserts, in ice-covered mountain lakes and in Antarctica. They swim "upside-down" and feed by filtering organic particles from the water or by scraping algae from surfaces. They are an important food for many birds and fish, and some are cultured and harvested for use as fish food. There are 300 species spread across 8 families.
context_section_description: Anostraca is the most diverse of the four orders of Branchiopoda. It comprises around 300 species, grouped into 26 genera in eight families: 
  Artemiidae – 1 genus, 9 species
  Branchinectidae – 1 genus, 45 species
  Branchipodidae – 5 genera, 35 species
  Chirocephalidae – 9 genera, 81 species
  Parartemiidae – 1 genus, 13 species
  Streptocephalidae – 1 genus, 56 species
  Tanymastigidae – 2 genera, 8 species
  Thamnocephalidae – 6 genera, 62 species
caption: Anatomical drawings of Branchinecta paludosa (Branchinectidae) from Georg Ossian Sars' Fauna Norvegiae (1896)
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