News
Butterflies of the sea
Baba, K., Macpherson, E., Poore, G.C.B., Ahyong, S.T., Bermudez, A., Cabezas, P., Lin, C.-W., Nizinski, M., Rodrigues, C., Schnabel, K.E., 2008. Catalogue of squat lobsters of the world (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura - families Chirostylidae, Galatheidae and Kiwaidae). Zootaxa 1905, 1-220. Available online on Zootaxa website.
Squat lobsters are dominant, numerous and highly visible crustaceans on continental margins, seamounts, many shelf environments, coral reefs at all depths, and at chemosynthetic ecosystems. They may be considered analogous to the butterflies of the deep-sea in the sense of having an elegant morphology and often appealing color patterns. The catalogue published in Zootaxa lists the 870 known species of marine squat lobsters and is freely accessible online.