Mandibulata

Mandibulata Temporal range:
The mandibles of a bull ant
Life restoration of Odaraia, an early mandibulate belonging to Hymenocarina with mandibles present near the mouth
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Mandibulata de Clairville, 1798
Subdivisions
Pancrustacea (including hexapods) Myriapoda †Euthycarcinoidea †Hymenocarina †Fuxianhuiida †Phosphatocopina incertae sedis (including possible stem-group mandibulates) †Acheronauta? †Aquilonifer †Bradoriida? †Cambropachycopidae? †Cambropodus? †Captopodus? †Cascolus? †Martinssonia? †Papiliomaris? †Parioscorpio? †Rhyniognatha? †Skaracarida? †Tanazios? †Marrellomorpha? †Thylacocephala? †Oelandocarididae? †Musacaris?

The clade Mandibulata constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda, alongside Chelicerata. Mandibulates include the crustaceans, myriapods (centipedes and millipedes, among others), and all true insects. The name "Mandibulata" refers to the mandibles, a modified pair of limbs used in food processing, the presence of which are characteristic of most members of the group.

The mandibulates are divided between the extant groups Myriapoda (millipedes and centipedes, among others) and Pancrustacea (including crustaceans and hexapods, the latter group containing insects). Molecular phylogenetic studies suggest that the living arthropods are related as shown in the cladogram below. Crustaceans do not form a monophyletic group as insects and other hexapods have evolved from within them.

A number of extinct groups have also been placed in Mandibulata, including Hymenocarina, Euthycarcinoidea, and Fuxianhuiida.

Cladogram after O’Flynn et al, 2023:

Total group Arthropoda

"Gilled lobopodians" (Pambdelurion, Kerygmachela)File:20191022 Kerygmachela kierkegaardi without lobopods.png Opabinia File:20191108 Opabinia regalis.png Radiodonta (e.g Anomalocaris) File:20191203 Anomalocaris canadensis.png Deuteropoda Kylinxia File:20210310 Kylinxia zhangi.png Fengzhengia File:Fengzhengia.png Kiisortoqia File:Kiisortoqia.png Bushizheia File:Bushizheia.png Total group Chelicerata Megacheira File:20191020 Yohoia tenuis.png Habeliida File:Habelia reconstruction from Aria & Caron 2017 modified.png Mollisonia File:20191003 Mollisonia plenovenatrix side.png Chelicerata (horseshoe crabs, sea spiders, arachnids, etc) File:20200813 Lunataspis aurora.png "Great appendage bivalved forms" (Occacaris, Forfexicaris) Isoxyida File:Artistic reconstruction of Isoxys curvirostratus.jpg Artiopoda (including Trilobita) File:Estonian Museum of Natural History - trilobite - Hydrocephalus.png Mandibulata Fuxianhuiida File:20211117 Alacaris mirabilis.png Myriapoda (millipedes, centipedes, etc) File:Scolopendra multidens 広西省産.jpg Hymenocarina File:20211025 Waptia fieldensis.png Pancrustacea (crustaceans, insects, etc)

Taxonomic history

The name "Mandibulata" was originally used for a subgroup of insects by Joseph Philippe de Clairville in 1798. In the 1930s, Robert Evans Snodgrass used the name to encompass myriapods, hexapods and crustaceans, which he considered to be united by a number of morphological similarities, including but not limited to the presence of mandibles. This proposal was contested by some other 20th century scholars, who considered mandibles the result of convergent evolution, though the existence of Mandibulata is now widely accepted based on genetic evidence.

See also

• Atelocerata
• Marrellomorpha
• Myriochelata
• Pancrustacea
• Crustaceomorpha
• Antennulata
• Arachnomorpha
• Uniramia