A class of Crustacea whose application is gaining moderately widespread use, despite the fact that its validity is not universally accepted by researchers. The constituent subclasses of the Maxillopoda also remain unsettled.
The class Maxillopoda was proposed for those taxa with six thoracic somites (with some exceptions), a well-developed mandibular palp in adults, well-developed maxillules and maxillae adapted for filtering in filter feeders, and the lack of gnathobases on the appendages of the thorax. The Recent taxa included were the Copepoda, Branchiura, Mystacocarida, and provisionally, the Cirripedia. Subsequently the Cirripedia (subdivided into Cirripedia sensu stricto and Ascothoracida) were unequivocally incorporated. The Ostracoda are now included by some but excluded by others. More recent suggestions have included the Tantulocarida, and even the probably noncrustacean Pentastomida, within the Maxillopoda. See also Branchiura; Cirripedia; Copepoda; Crustacea; Ostracoda; Pentastomida.
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