[1] Count Georg zu Münster first described Cancrinos in 1839, based on material from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen limestones of southern Germany.

[2] He described two species, Cancrinos claviger and C. latipes, differentiated by the size of the second antennae,[2] but the two are now considered to be synonyms.

[5][6] Cancrinos differs most markedly from other related animals by the form of the second antennae, which are flattened towards the end, approaching the state seen in living slipper lobsters.

[7] Unlike living slipper lobsters, however, the flattened, distal parts of the antennae retain the ancestral state of comprising many segments, rather than being reduced to a single element.

[1] Younger specimens have less flattened antennae, more like those of living spiny lobsters; thus, Canrcinos exhibits a form of heterochrony known as peramorphosis.