Crustacea

other pests • pests-diseases-weeds

Vernacular names
• Deutsch:	Krebse
• English:	crustaceans
• Français:	crustacés

Triops longicaudatus (click on image to enlarge it)
Author(s): Steve Jurvetson
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Crustacea - (crustaceans)

The group of crustaceans contains more than 50,000, mainly aquatic species. Among others, these include crabs, crayfish, shrimps and forms like barnacles. A few species are important as beneficial predators of mosquitoes larvae (see the page on crustacean predators for that group) and several others as agricultural pests. This page deals with the latter group.

Unlike land arthropods such as insects, crustaceans usually have gills and even species living on land require a moist environment or a close-by source of water. Other characters of many groups include more than 6 legs, 2 pairs of antennae and some legs functioning as pincers.

The following groups are currently entered under pest Crustacea:

• Branchiopoda (tadpole shrimps)
• Decapoda (crayfish, etc.)
• Isopoda (slaters & pill-bugs)