Homarus

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Homarus
Homarus americanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Nephropidae
Genus: Homarus
Weber, 1795
Species

H. americanus — American lobster
H. gammarus — European lobster

Homarus is a genus of lobsters, which include the common and commercially significant species Homarus americanus (American lobster) and the European lobster (Homarus gammarus) [1]. The Cape lobster, which was formerly in this genus as H. capensis, was moved in 1995 to the new genus Homarinus [2].

The American and European lobsters are very similar and are difficult to tell apart. The best characters are the geographic distribution, with the American lobster in the western Atlantic and the European lobster in the eastern Atlantic, and by the presence of one or more teeth on the underside of the rostrum [3].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Homarus (TSN 97313). Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. ^ Kornfield, I., A. Williams, & R. S. Steneck (1995). Assignment of Homarus capensis (Herbst, 1792), the Cape lobster of South Africa, to Homarius new genus (Decapoda: Nephropidae). Fishery Bulletin 93: 97–102. 
  3. ^ Lipke Holthuis (1991). FAO species catalogue Vol. 13: Marine lobsters of the world.. FAO.