Thaumastochelidae
| Thaumastochelidae | |
|---|---|
| Thaumastocheles massonktenos | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Superfamily: | Nephropoidea |
| Family: | Thaumastochelidae Bate, 1888 |
| Genera | |
|
Thaumastocheles Wood-Mason, 1874 | |
The family Thaumastochelidae contains five known species of deep-sea lobsters, three in the genus Thaumastocheles, and two in the genus Thaumastochelopsis. The fifth species was discovered in the ten–year Census of Marine Life. These creatures are distinguished from other clawed lobsters by their blindness (an adaptation to deep-sea life), and by their single elongated, spiny chela.
The family Thaumastochelidae is now more usually subsumed into the lobster family Nephropidae.