Gary C. B. Poore,PhD, is Principal Curator Emeritus at Museums Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. His research interests, spanning 50 years, include the taxonomy and phylogeny of marine Crustacea, and the biodiversity and biogeography of marine communities. He has published over 225 papers and book chapters, including revisions of several major taxa.

Shane T. Ahyong, PhD, is Principal Research Scientist and Head of Marine Invertebrates at the Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia, and Adjunct Professor, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. His research interests, spanning more than 25 years, include the phylogeny and systematics of marine and freshwater Crustacea, marine invasive species, biogeography and phylogenetic methods, published in over 300 papers and book chapters.

Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. 2. Systematics 3. Dendrobranchiata - prawns and shrimps 4. Stenopodidea - coral shrimps and Venus shrimps 5. Procarididea - shrimps 6. Caridea - shrimps 7. Astacidea - scampi and crayfish 8. Glypheidea - lobsters 9. Axiidea - sponge shrimps, ghost shrimps and mud lobsters 10. Gebiidea - mud lobsters and sponge shrimps 11. Achelata - spiny lobsters, slipper lobsters and bugs 12. Polychelida - deep-sea lobsters 13. Anomura - hermit crabs, porcelain crabs, king crabs, mole crabs, squat lobsters 14. Brachyura - crabs. Glossary. Credits. Index to genus-group, family-group and higher taxonomic names