Mantis Shrimp

The Evolution of Mantis Shrimps
The Stomatopoda crustaceans, or commonly known as the mantis shrimp, are one of the most unique charismatic marine animals in the world. There are roughly about 400 living species of mantis shrimps which makes them an intriguing organism for scientists to study the different evolutionary patterns. The mantis shrimp received its name from the similarity of morphology with the insect, pray mantis. The morphological similarities are between the head and the thorax of the pray mantis with the physiology of a marine crustacean tail. Its body structure like the raptorial appendage and the elegant compound eye, are gradually developmentally variance in specialization in the diversification of the mantis shrimp. Possessing
Stomatopods make dwellings in shallow burrows in the ocean and freshwater, where they can be protected from predators, molt, mate, and take advantage of stealth by surprising prey (Reaka 1980). The niche of stomatopoda can be found near the equator in different areas of the world (Figure 1). Along with their natural attributes, these crustaceans have specialized organs that are about 400 million years old through natural selection based on the ever changing conditions on Earth. A notable attribute are the advanced compound eyes of the mantis shrimp. Their eyes are constantly moving in different directions and at the same time watching its surroundings. Having this ability, have allowed mantis shrimp to survive as long as it did and reproduce. In one mantis shrimp lifetime, they are able to reproduce as much as 25 times bringing new mantis shrimp into the population. In doing so, the mantis shrimp have separated into two different groups called the “spears” and “smashers” with each group having the ability to utilize the most favorable niche for
Among the Stomatopda, the largest class Malacostraca, is approximately 40,000 species which includes organisms that are common to everyday such as the crayfish, shrimp, crab, lobster and krill. Malacostraca are characterized by their body structure comprised of many body segments split into the head, thorax, and abdomen. These organisms are abundant in most marine environments from saltwater, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. From evolutionary history, it is configured the Stomatopoda is the last living subclass of the Hoplocarida that diverged about 400 million years ago during the Devonian period. The Paleostomatopoda and Aeschronectida which are both also Hoplocarids, that lived in the shallow coastal region waters. The Paleostomatopoda have a specialized raptorial appendage that indicated a key connection to the suborder Unipeltata, the crown group of the stomatopoda. In comparison to the suborder Unipeltata, the morphological evidence established support for five major superfamily classification: the Squilloidea, Bathysquilloidea, Lysiosquilloidea, Erthrosquilloidea, and the Gonodactylodidea. On the other hand, the Aeschronectida is different having minimal structural specialization, the Aeshcronectida lacks the raptorial appendage Stomatopoda are known for (Haug