Fossils and decapod phylogeny

An expanded series of morphological characters developed for a cladistic analysis of extant decapods has yielded a new hypothesis for the phylogeny of the group. Application of this database to selected fossil genera produces some interesting results and demonstrates the feasibility of treating fossils as full and equal partners in the study of decapod phylogenetic relationships. In addition, it seems clear that rigorous cladistic methods can be used to evaluate the phylogenetic positions of fossils, rather than ad hoc speculation.