GALATHEOIDEA Samouellle, 1819

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 142-143

SUPERFAMILY GALATHEOIDEA Samouellle, 1819

Squat lobsters, langostinos or craylets of the families Chirostylidae , Galatheidae , Munididae , and Munidopsidae ; generally are found on the continental shelf and deeper in the northeastern Pacific. Ahyong et al. (2010), in a recent revision, divided the old family Galatheidae into the Galatheidae s.s. and the families Munididae and Munidopsidae . Most of these species are epibenthic on the continental shelf and in deeper areas. Only Pleuroncodes planipes at times is cast ashore or enters near shore waters. Baba et al. (2009) listed all of the families, genera and species worldwide.

Ranges of deep benthic galatheoids of the eastern Pacific remain uncertain, as does some classification to species. It is not known yet whether populations of species thought to be pan-Pacific or cosmopolitan are actually separate species. Macpherson et al. (2010), in a biogeographical study, noted the isolation of the eastern Pacific galatheoid fauna. Two genera, Janetogalathea and Pleuroncodes , are endemic to the eastern Pacific.