Axiidae Huxley, 1879

Lin, Tomoyuki Komai Feng-Jiau & Chan, Tin-Yam, 2010, Five new species of Axiidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea) from deep-water off Taiwan, with description of a new genus, Zootaxa 2352, pp. 1-28 : 2

Family Axiidae Huxley, 1879

Remarks. The family Calocarididae was revived and redefined by Kensley (1989), although his hypothetical scheme for derivation of the family suggested that the genera assigned to Calocarididae form a clade but is subordinated within Axiidae . Nevertheless, subsequent authors have continued to recognize Calocarididae as a distinct family (e.g., Poore 1994, 2008; Komai 2000; Sakai & Ohta 2005; De Grave et al. 2009), because the morphological evidence strongly suggests that genera assigned to the family clearly form a monophyletic group. Based on molecular data, Tsang et al. (2008) analysed relationships between two calocaridid species ( Calastacus crosnieri and Paracalocaris sagamiensis ) and three axiids, finding the two calocaridids to sister taxa and the axiids to form a paraphyletic grade. Robles et al. (2009) showed that the calocaridid, Calocaris caribbaeus , is nested among seven species of Axiidae , also suggesting the paraphyly of Axiidae . Sakai & Ohta (2005) separated Eiconaxius in its own family, Eiconaxiidae , because the genus is characterized by rounded dactyli of the third to fifth pereopods, representing a unique feature for the genus. However, Poore & Collins (2009) showed that this characteristic is also seen, in part, in the axiid Platyaxius Sakai, 1994 . They finally synonymized Calocarididae and Eiconaxiidae with Axiidae .