A revision of the tropical/temperate amphipod genus Dulichiella Stout, 1912, and the description of a new Atlantic genus Verdeia gen. nov. (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Melitidae)

Abstract

The melitid amphipod genus Dulichiella Stout, 1912, is revised. Based on examination of type material or new material from near type localities, we redescribe D. anisochir (Krøyer, 1845) from Brazil, D. appendiculata (Say, 1818) from the south-eastern United States, D. australis (Haswell, 1879) from eastern Australia, D. cotesi (Giles, 1890) from the Andaman Islands, D. cuvettensis Appadoo & Myers, 2005 from Mauritius, D. fresnelii (Audouin, 1826) from the Red Sea, D. pacifica Lowry & Springthorpe, 2005 from Australasia and D. spinosa Stout, 1912 from California. Based on published illustrations and new material we describe six new species: D. guinea sp. nov. from western Africa; D. lecroyae sp. nov. from the south-eastern United States; D. oahu sp. nov. from Hawaii; D. terminos sp. nov. from south-eastern Mexico; D. tomioka sp. nov. from Japan and D. tulear sp. nov. from Madagascar. The new genus Verdeia is described for two established species, Melita grandimana Chevreux, 1908 from the Cape Verde Islands and Melita subchelata Schellenberg, 1925 from Namibia. We provide a key to the world species of these genera.

Parallel Saltational Evolution of Ultrafast Movements in Snapping Shrimp Claws

“…This key innovation facilitated an explosive diversification (>80% of at least 600 alpheid species snap), presumably because snapping has so many functions: defense, predation, excavation, and possibly communication [13]. Although such an extreme ability might seem highly improbable, snapping claws have evolved independently in two unrelated shrimp families (Alpheidae and Palaemonidae) [12,13] and one amphipod genus [15].…”

Dulichiella celestun, a new species of amphipod (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Melitidae) from the Gulf of Mexico, with a key and zoogeographic remarks for the genus in the western Atlantic

“…Species of the genus Dulichiella Stout, 1912 are found in tropical and warm temperate shallow-seas around the world as epibenthic amphipods, often associated with algae, ascidians, bryozoaries, and sponges; they also occur in high numbers on artificial substrata (Lowry & Springthorpe 2007).…”

“…A distinctive character apparently exclusive to males of the genus Dulichiella is the distolateral crown of spines on the propodus of the asymmetrical male second gnathopod which itself can be nearly as large as the body (Lowry & Springthorpe 2007). So far, the genus is composed of 15 species (Lowry & Springthorpe 2007;Tomikawa & Komatsu 2012), four of which have been recorded in the western Atlantic; Dulichiella anisochir (Krøyer, 1845), Dulichiella appendiculata (Say, 1818), Dulichiella lecroyae Springthorpe, 2007, andDulichiella terminos Lowry &Springthorpe, 2007. A possible new species has been discovered in the Bermuda region by Gable et al (2010), but no description has been yet provided.…”

A new species of the genus Dulichiella Stout, 1912 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Melitidae) from Pecém Harbor, Ceará state, Brazil

“…The genus Dulichiella Stout, 1912 is a group of species popularly kown as snapping amphipods. It has a widespread distribution in tropical and temperate waters (Lowry & Springthorpe 2007, Paz-Rios & Ardisson 2014. According to Lowry & Springthorpe (2007), the genus was initially established as belonging to the Dulichiid group based on the misconception of the absence of the uropod 3.…”

“…It has a widespread distribution in tropical and temperate waters (Lowry & Springthorpe 2007, Paz-Rios & Ardisson 2014. According to Lowry & Springthorpe (2007), the genus was initially established as belonging to the Dulichiid group based on the misconception of the absence of the uropod 3. Karaman & Barnard (1979) reestablished the genus as part of the melitid amphipod group, with one of male gnatopod 2 greatly enlarged as apomorphy.…”