For comparison, we also include one balananoidean species from an entirely different habitat, namely, epibiotic in marine sponges, and a species from the
Verrucomorpha, which is the sister group to the Balanomopha.
Systematically, they cover the acorn barnacles (Thoracica Balanomorpha), the asymmetric barnacles (
Verrucomorpha), the paraphyletic assemblage of stalked barnacles (Thoracica Pedunculata), and the parasitic Rhizocephala.
In the superorder Thoracica, dwarf males have so far been reported in the suborders Balanomorpha, Iblomorpha, Scalpellomorpha, and Heteralepadomorpha, but not in Lepadomorpha or
Verrucomorpha (Klepal, 1985, 1987; Hoeg, 1995).