Molecular Evidence for the Placement of Microcerberidae (Crustacea: Isopoda) Within the Suborder Asellota and Invalidity of the Suborder Microcerberidea

ABSTRACT Since their discovery, the question of the phylogenetic position of Microcerberidae within Isopoda has been widely debated. Initially perceived as close relatives of the Anthuridae, the debate has shifted towards considering them either as a sister group of Asellota or positioned within the Asellota in their own right. In this study, we used sequence data for eight slow‐evolving nuclear genes in 37 isopod taxa to test for the hypothesis that Microcerberidae were Asellota and, as such, should not be regarded as an independent suborder within the Isopoda. We also evaluated the earlier hypothesis of a sister relationship between the Anthuridae and Microcerberidae. Altogether, our results provide strong evidence in favour of a clade including the Microcerberidae and the Aselloidea, which supports the invalidation of the suborder Microcerberidea.

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Journal
Zoologica Scripta
Published
2026-05-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.70063
Primary Topic
Subterranean biodiversity and taxonomy
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Molecular Evidence for the Placement of Microcerberidae (Crustacea: Isopoda) Within the Suborder Asellota and Invalidity of the Suborder Microcerberidea

Florian Malard, C. François, Nicole Coineau, Tristan Lefébure et al.
Zoologica Scripta
Subterranean biodiversity and taxonomy
article

Molecular Evidence for the Placement of Microcerberidae (Crustacea: Isopoda) Within the Suborder Asellota and Invalidity of the Suborder Microcerberidea

Florian Malard, C. François, Nicole Coineau, Tristan Lefébure, Lara Konecny‐Dupré, Jeongho Kim, Colin Issartel, Christophe J. Douady, Kelly L. Merrin, Jessica A. Thomas Thorpe
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since their discovery, the question of the phylogenetic position of Microcerberidae within Isopoda has been widely debated. Initially perceived as close relatives of the Anthuridae, the debate has shifted towards considering them either as a sister group of Asellota or positioned within the Asellota in their own right. In this study, we used sequence data for eight slow‐evolving nuclear genes in 37 isopod taxa to test for the hypothesis that Microcerberidae were Asellota and, as such, should not be regarded as an independent suborder within the Isopoda. We also evaluated the earlier hypothesis of a sister relationship between the Anthuridae and Microcerberidae. Altogether, our results provide strong evidence in favour of a clade including the Microcerberidae and the Aselloidea, which supports the invalidation of the suborder Microcerberidea.

Zoologica Scripta
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Institut Universitaire de France (FR), Wellcome Sanger Institute (GB), Sorbonne Université (FR), National Institute of Biological Resources (KR), Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer (FR), Monash University (AU), École d'Ingénieurs en Chimie et Sciences du Numérique (FR)
European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Subterranean biodiversity and taxonomy
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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