Podophthalmata

Podophthalmata, or Stalk-eyed Crustacea, are those in which the eye is situated at the end of a flexible peduncle or stalk; this is the case in the Stomatopoda (q.v.) or Locust-shrimps, the Schizopoda (q.v.), as Mysis the Opossum-shrimp, and the Decapoda (q.v.), including all the Lobsters and Crabs. These were therefore all once grouped together as the Podophthalmata, while the sessile-eyed members of the Malacostraca (q.v.) or higher Crustacea, were united into the sub-class Edriophthalmata. As it is now believed that one order, the Cumacea, the members of which have sessile eyes, is more nearly allied to the stalk-eyed group, this classification has necessarily been abandoned. The Malacostraca are nowtherefore divided into three groups, the Leptostraca (q.v.) for Nebalia, the Arthrostraca, including the Amphipoda (q.v.) and Isopoda (q.v.), and the Thoracostraca, including all the Stalk-eyed Crustacea and the Cumacea.