Ascothoracica

Ascothoracica are a small order or suborder of hermaphroditic barnacles. These crustaceans live enveloped in a soft mantle and are partially buried in other animals, such as black corals.1

While some authorities classify Ascothoracida within the Cirripedia due to a similar body plan, others place them in their own infraclass. This distinction arises from differences in their reproductive anatomy and larval forms, particularly the absence of frontolateral horns on their nauplius larvae and the lack of cement glands on their prehensile first antennae in their cyprid-like larvae. Ascothoracida share a common nonparasitic ancestor with the parasitic Rhizocephala and Cirripedia.23