to the Pericarida. Molecular studies The major feature that emerges from the picture of the phylogeny of the Malacostraca is that their diversity has resulted in several studies proposing dramatically different phylogenetic trees. With the advent of DNA sequencing, molecular studies have not helped a particular evolutionary model based on morphology to become the accepted one, but rather they have added more uncertainty to the accepted phylogenetic relationships: in fact not only they contradicted several morphological studies, but they also questioned the monophyly of the Eucarida and the Peracarida, in particular regarding the positions of the Mysida the Syncarida and the Hoplocarida, furthermore the molecular studies to date are only three, two of which overlap and concentrate on the Peracarida, while the third uses a limited amount of taxa. Analysis of the mitochondrial genome supports the monophyly of Brachyura (crabs), Caridea (shrimps), Euphausiacea (krill), Penaeidae (prawns) and Stomatopoda (mantis shrimps). It also supports a close relationship between Euphausiacea and Decapoda. Cladogram The following cladogram is based on the 2001 phylogenetic analysis of Richter & Scholtz. References External links Malacostraca, Tree of Life Web Project Introduction to the Malacostraca, University of California, Berkeley Malacostraca, The Paleobiology Database Malacostraca image key - Guide to the marine zooplankton of south eastern Australia, Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute Malacostraca