Lucifer (crustacean)
Genus of crustaceans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lucifer is a little-known and degenerate genus of prawns, the type genus of the family Luciferidae.[2] Lucifer has a long body, but many fewer appendages than other prawns, with only three pairs of pereiopods remaining, all without claws. It also bears no gills.[3] The female, uniquely among prawns, carries the fertilised eggs on her pleopods until they are ready to hatch. This parallels the development of a similar system in pleocyemates, although the attachment is less strong in Lucifer.[3] The length of the eye-stalks and the form of the petasma have been used in distinguishing the species, including before some were later moved into another genus Belzebub.
| Lucifer | |
|---|---|
| |
| Lucifer typus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Dendrobranchiata |
| Family: | Luciferidae |
| Genus: | Lucifer J. V. Thompson, 1829 |
| Type species | |
| Lucifer typus H. Milne-Edwards, 1837 | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
|
Leucifer | |
The name Lucifer, Latin for "light bearer", was given to the genus because of these prawns' bioluminescence.[4]
Two species are recognised:
- Lucifer orientalis Hansen, 1919
- Lucifer typus H. Milne-Edwards, 1837
Five nominal Lucifer species (L. chacei, L. faxoni, L. hanseni, L. intermedius, and L. penicillifer) have been reclassified in a distinct genus, Belzebub.[4]