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Which animals belong to the Chelicerata subphylum?

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A spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas) with long, striped antennae and spiny body stands on sandy ground near a rocky crevice underwater. — arthropod Spiny lobster, or rock lobster (*Palinurus elephas*).

The subphylum Chelicerata is a major group within the phylum Arthropoda. Animals belonging to this subphylum are characterized by a body divided into a prosoma (cephalothorax) and an opisthosoma (abdomen), the absence of antennae, and the presence of chelicerae as the first pair of appendages.1

The subphylum is divided into three primary classes:

Class Arachnida: This group includes spiders, scorpions, ticks, and mites.21
Class Merostomata: This class includes horseshoe crabs and the extinct eurypterids.21
Class Pycnogonida: This group consists of sea spiders.21