Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Crustacea Order Isopoda Rank Family | Phylum Arthropoda Class Malacostraca Suborder Cymothoida | |
Similar Isopods, Dajidae, Portunion conformis, Bopyridae, Cymothoida | ||
The Entoniscidae are a family of marine isopod crustaceans in the suborder Cymothoida. Members of this family are parasites of brachyuran and anomuran crabs, living in their hosts' haemocoel. A small chitinised hole develops through the host's exoskeleton through which the isopod can communicate with the environment. The female isopod bears little resemblance to any free-living isopod, but the morphology of the larvae show their taxonomic affiliations.
References
Entoniscidae Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA