English: Barnacles, copepods, fish lice, etc.
ZoologyMaxillopoda are mostly small, except Barnacles. The smallest known arthropod is Stygotantulus stocki. They often have short bodies, with the abdomen reduced in size, and generally lacking any appendages, maybe due to paedomorphosis.
Apart from barnacles, which use their legs for filter feeding, most maxillopodans feed with their maxillae. They have a bauplan comprising 5 cephalic segments, 6 thoracic segments and 4 abdominal segments, followed by a telson.
TaxonomyMaxillopoda may not be a monophyletic group. No single character unites them.
CladesThecostraca
Tantulocarida
Branchiura
Pentastomida
Mystacocarida
Copepoda