Thaumastochelopsis
Thaumastochelidae
Family of lobsters
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.[1][2] These creatures are distinguished from other clawed lobsters by their blindness (an adaptation to deep-sea life), and by their single elongated, spiny chela.[3]
The family Thaumastochelidae is now more usually subsumed into the lobster family Nephropidae.[4]
The five species are as follows:
- Thaumastocheles
- Thaumastocheles dochmiodon Chan & de Saint Laurent, 1999 is found in the Timor Sea.
- Thaumastocheles japonicus Calman, 1913, the "Pacific pincer lobster", is endemic to the Sea of Japan.
- Thaumastocheles zaleucus Thomson, 1873, the "Atlantic pincer lobster" or "Atlantic deep-sea lobster", is endemic to the Caribbean region.
- Thaumastochelopsis
- Thaumastochelopsis brucei Ahyong, Chu & Chan, 2007 lives in the Coral Sea.
- Thaumastochelopsis wardi Bruce, 1988, the "Australian pincer lobster", lives in the Coral Sea.