The subphylum Mandibulata constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda, alongside Chelicerata. Mandibulates include the crustaceans, myriapods (centipedes and millipedes), 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.

Mandibulata
Temporal range: Cambrian Stage 3–Recent
The mandibles of a bull ant
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Mandibulata
Subdivisions

The mandibulates are divided between the extant groups Myriapoda (millipedes & centipedes, among others) and Pancrustacea (including insects and crustaceans, among others). 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.[1][2][3]

Arthropoda
Mandibulata

Pancrustacea (crustaceans and hexapods)

Myriapoda (centipedes, millipedes, and allies)

Chelicerata (sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jerome C. Regier; Jeffrey W. Shultz; Andreas Zwick; April Hussey; Bernard Ball; Regina Wetzer; Joel W. Martin; Clifford W. Cunningham (2010). "Arthropod relationships revealed by phylogenomic analysis of nuclear protein-coding sequences". Nature. 463 (7284): 1079–1083. Bibcode:2010Natur.463.1079R. doi:10.1038/nature08742. PMID 20147900. S2CID 4427443.
  2. ^ Björn M. von Reumont; Ronald A. Jenner; Matthew A. Wills; Emiliano Dell'Ampio; Günther Pass; Ingo Ebersberger; Benjamin Meyer; Stefan Koenemann; Thomas M. Iliffe; Alexandros Stamatakis; Oliver Niehuis; Karen Meusemann; Bernhard Misof (2011). "Pancrustacean phylogeny in the light of new phylogenomic data: support for Remipedia as the possible sister group of Hexapoda". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 29 (3): 1031–1045. doi:10.1093/molbev/msr270. PMID 22049065.
  3. ^ Omar Rota-Stabelli; Lahcen Campbell; Henner Brinkmann; Gregory D. Edgecombe; Stuart J. Longhorn; Kevin J. Peterson; Davide Pisani; Herve Philippe; Maximilian J. Telford (2011). "A congruent solution to arthropod phylogeny: phylogenomics, microRNAs and morphology support monophyletic Mandibulata". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 278 (1703): 298–306. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.0590. PMC 3013382. PMID 20702459.