{{Short description|Genus of crustaceans}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = |image_caption = |taxon = Hemisquilla |authority = Hansen, 1895 |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text }}
'''''Hemisquilla''''' is a genus of mantis shrimp, and the only genus in the family '''Hemisquillidae'''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Hemisquilla - Encyclopedia of Life |url=https://eol.org/pages/14342 |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=eol.org}}</ref> It contains four species distributed in Australia and the Americas. Species in the genus typically eat snails, fish, rock oysters, and smaller crustaceans like crabs. They are preyed upon by larger bony fishes and cephalopods.<ref name=":0" /> It is the most basal living mantis shrimp lineage, and the sister group to all other mantis shrimp.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Van Der Wal |first1=Cara |last2=Ahyong |first2=Shane T. |last3=Ho |first3=Simon Y.W. |last4=Lo |first4=Nathan |date=2017-09-21 |title=The evolutionary history of Stomatopoda (Crustacea: Malacostraca) inferred from molecular data |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=5 |article-number=e3844 |doi=10.7717/peerj.3844 |issn=2167-8359 |pmc=5610894 |pmid=28948111 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Species== Four species are recognized:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stephenson |first=William |date=1967 |title=A COMPARISON OF AUSTRALASIAN AND AMERICAN SPECIMENS OF HEMISQUILLA ENSIGERA (OWEN, 1832) (CRUSTACEA: STOMATOPODA) |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/16938/1/USNMP-120_3564_1967.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the United States National Museum |volume=120 (3564)}}</ref>
{{specieslist |''Hemisquilla australiensis'' |Stephenson, 1967 |''Hemisquilla braziliensis'' |(Moreira, 1903) |''Hemisquilla californiensis'' |Stephenson, 1967 |''Hemisquilla ensigera''|(Owen, 1832) }}
==Anatomy== Prey capture in ''Hemisquilla'' species is extremely rapid. Contact with the prey is made within 4-10 milliseconds, and the striking limb moves at a linear velocity of around 10 meters per second.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Burrows |first=M. |date=1969-12-01 |title=The mechanics and neural control of the prey capture strike in the mantid shrimps Squilla and Hemisquilla |journal=Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie |language=en |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=361–381 |doi=10.1007/BF00299261 |s2cid=8741172 |issn=1432-1351}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Burrows |first1=Malcolm |last2=Hoyle |first2=Graham |date=March 1972 |title=Neuromuscular physiology of the strike mechanism of the mantis shrimp,Hemisquilla |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.1401790309 |journal=Journal of Experimental Zoology |language=en |volume=179 |issue=3 |pages=379–393 |doi=10.1002/jez.1401790309 |issn=0022-104X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> There are five physiologically different motor units composed of muscle fibers that work together to make this rapid strike possible.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McNeill |first1=Patricia |last2=Burrows |first2=Malcolm |last3=Hoyle |first3=Graham |date=March 1972 |title=Fine structure of muscles controlling the strike of the mantis shrimp,Hemisquilla |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.1401790310 |journal=Journal of Experimental Zoology |language=en |volume=179 |issue=3 |pages=395–415 |doi=10.1002/jez.1401790310 |issn=0022-104X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Etymology ==
The genus name comes from Ancient Greek ἡμι- (''hēmi-''), meaning 'half', and Latin ''squilla'', meaning 'a kind of shrimp'.{{citation needed|date=December 2025}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
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Category:Stomatopoda Category:Malacostraca genera
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