Furry lobsters are small decapod

Decapoda

The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp. Most decapods are scavengers. It is estimated that the order contains nearly 15,000 species in around 2,700 genera, with...

 crustaceans, closely related to the slipper lobster

Slipper lobster

Slipper lobsters are a family of decapod crustaceans found in all warm oceans and seas. Despite their name, they are not true lobsters, but are more closely related to spiny lobsters and furry lobsters. Slipper lobsters are instantly recognisable by their enlarged antennae, which project forward...

s and spiny lobster

Spiny lobster

Spiny lobsters, also known as langouste or rock lobsters, are a family of about 45 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia...

s. The antennae

Antenna (biology)

Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....

 are not as enlarged as in spiny and slipper lobsters, and the body is covered in short hairs

Seta

Seta is a biological term derived from the Latin word for "bristle". It refers to a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms.-Animal setae:In zoology, most "setae" occur in invertebrates....

, hence the name furry lobster. Although previously considered a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 in their own right (Synaxidae Bate

Charles Spence Bate

Charles Spence Bate, or Spence Bate, FRS was a British zoologist and dentist, who who practiced first at Swansea, and then Plymouth, taking over his father's practice. He was an authority on the Crustacea, and a frequent correspondent of Charles Darwin, mostly concerning their shared interest in...

, 1881), the furry lobsters were subsumed into the family Palinuridae in 1990, and molecular phylogenies support the inclusion of the furry lobsters in the family Palinuridae. There are two genera

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

, with three species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 between them:

• Palinurellus gundlachi Von Martens
  Eduard von Martens
  Eduard von Martens sometimes known as Carl or Karl Eduard von Martens, was a German zoologist.Born in Stuttgart in 1831, von Martens attended universities in Tübingen, Stuttgart and Munich, graduating from the University of Tübingen in 1855. In 1860, he set off as part of an expedition to the Far...
  
  , 1878 – Caribbean furry lobster, found in the Caribbean Sea
  Caribbean Sea
  The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
  
   and the Atlantic
  Atlantic Ocean
  The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
  
   coast of South America
  South America
  South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
  
  ; named for Juan Gundlach
  Juan Gundlach
  Juan Cristóbal Gundlach , born Johannes Christoph Gundlach was a Cuban naturalist and taxonomist.-Biography:...
  
  
• Palinurellus wieneckii (De Man
  Johannes Govertus de Man
  Johannes Govertus de Man was a Dutch biologist. He was assistant curator at the in Leiden, where he specialised in free-living nematodes and decapod crustaceans, although he also wrote papers on flatworms, sipunculids and, in his dissertation only, vertebrates...
  
  , 1881) – mole lobster, with an Indo-Pacific
  Indo-Pacific
  The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia...
  
   distribution
• Palibythus magnificus
  Palibythus
  Palibythus magnificus, sometimes called the musical furry lobster, is a species of furry lobster found in Polynesia. It is generally included in the family Palinuridae, although it has also been separated from that family with the genus Palinurellus to form the family Synaxidae in the past...
  
  P. J. F. Davie, 1990 – musical furry lobster, from the South Pacific
  Pacific Ocean
  The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
  
   (originally described from Samoa
  Samoa
  Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
  
  )