The evolution and development of crustacean limbs: an analysis of limb homologies

Crustaceans exhibit the most diverse body plans of any arthropod taxon. Coupled to this diversity of body plans is an incredible diversity of limb morphologies. In thinking about the evolution of crustacean limbs, we might like to know how this enormous diversification has taken place and what particular evolutionary transformations have produced specific limb morphologies. Unfortunately, we do not presently have a well-established phylogeny of the major crustacean taxa that could help in the precise formulation of these questions. Such a phylogeny could, for example, point to likely ancestral limb characters or specific transformations to be explored.