Cryptocaris
Extinct genus of crustaceans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cryptocaris is an extinct, monospecific genus of remipedes in the family Tesnusocarididae.[2] It lived in what are now the Mazon Creek fossil beds in Illinois during the Middle Pennsylvanian.[1]
| Cryptocaris Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Remipedia |
| Order: | †Enantiopoda |
| Family: | †Tesnusocarididae |
| Genus: | †Cryptocaris Schram, 1974 |
| Species: | †C. hootchi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Cryptocaris hootchi Schram, 1974 | |
Classification
Cryptocaris was described by Frederick Schram in 1974, and was initially placed in the suborder Monokonophora.[3] It was then reassigned to the extinct suborder Anthracocaridomorpha and placed in its own family, Cryptocarididae, in 1986.[2]
Then, in 1991, it and Tesnusocaris were recognized as remipedes. The family Tesnusocarididae was erected to house both genera, with Tesnusocaris becoming the family's type genus, and Cryptocarididae a synonym of the family.[2][4]
