Furry lobster explained

Furry lobsters (sometimes called coral lobsters) are small decapod crustaceans, closely related to the slipper lobsters and spiny lobsters.^[1] The antennae are not as enlarged as in spiny and slipper lobsters, and the body is covered in short hairs, hence the name furry lobster. Although previously considered a family in their own right (Synaxidae Spence Bate, 1881), the furry lobsters were subsumed into the family Palinuridae in 1990.^[2] Subsequent molecular phylogenetics studies have confirmed that the furry lobsters genera don't form a natural group and were both nested among the spiny lobster genera in family Palinuridae.^[1] The family now includes the two furry lobster genera and ten spiny lobster genera.^[3]

Taxonomy

There are two genera, with three species between them:

• Palinurellus gundlachi Von Martens, 1878 – Caribbean furry lobster, found in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic coast of South America; named for Juan Gundlach
• Palinurellus wieneckii (De Man, 1881) – mole lobster, with an Indo-Pacific distribution
• Palibythus magnificus P. J. F. Davie, 1990 – musical furry lobster, from the South Pacific (originally described from Samoa)

Notes and References

1. Ferran Palero . Keith A. Crandall. Keith A. Crandall. Pere Abelló . Enrique Macpherson . Marta Pascual . 2009 . . 50 . 1 . 152–162 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2008.10.003 . Phylogenetic relationships between spiny, slipper and coral lobsters (Crustacea, Decapoda, Achelata) . 18957325.
2. Book: An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea . Joel W. Martin . George E. Davis . 2001 . 1–132 . . 2010-06-04 . 2013-05-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130512091254/http://atiniui.nhm.org/pdfs/3839/3839.pdf . dead .
3. Palinuridae . 106794 . 24 February 2024.