Malacostraca Maltreated: The Case of the Phyllocarida

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Abstract
Because of the presence in the Phyllocarida of foliaceous thoracopods engaged in forward-directed ventral food transport, Schram (1986) removed the Phyllocarida from the Malacostraca and placed them in his class Phyllopoda. A reevaluation of the prevalence of malacostracan synapomorphies in the Phyllocarida once more proves beyond doubt their clearly malacostracan affinities. The single presumed phyllopod-phyllocarid synapomorphy referred to by Schram (l.c.), namely, the foliaceous thoracopods, is doubtful, for, as shown by Cannon (1933), it is more likely that the foliaceous shape developed independently within the phyllocarid line. The placing of the Phyllocarida among the Phyllopoda involves Schram in difficulties, forcing him to build upon unwarranted hypotheses of "loss" and "redevelopment: of various characters and materially reducing the degree of clarity and credibility of his most important phylogenetic cladogram.

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