New apseudomorph tanaidaceans (Crustacea: Peracarida: Tanaidacea) from eastern Australia: Apseudidae, Whiteleggiidae, Metapseudidae and Pagurapseudidae

Abstract

B łażewicz-Paszkowycz, M., and Bamber, R. N. 2007 New apseudomorph tanaidaceans (Crustacea: Peracarida: Tanaidacea) from eastern Australia: Apseudidae, Whiteleggiidae, Metapseudidae and Pagurapseudidae. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 64: 107-148.Investigation of apseudomorph tanaidacean material collected between 1979 and 1984 from Bass Strait and held in the collections of Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, has revealed eight new species, fi ve in Apseudidae (including one new genus), two in Metapseudidae (including one new genus) and one in Pagurapseudidae. These taxa are described below. The new apseudid genus Annexos shows great similarity to Apseudes sensu stricto, but is without an exopod on the cheliped or on pereopod 1. Two new species of Apseudes show a common feature of maxilliped spination in eastern Australian taxa; Spinosapseudes colobus sp. nov., the second species of this genus, is described from a similar geography to the fi rst, but is distinguished by the proportionately more compact articles of the antennular and antennal peduncles, the mandibular palp and the pereopods. Pugiodactylus syntomos sp. nov. is predominantly distinguished by having compact articles in the antenna, cheliped and pereopod 1; Labraxeudes heliodiscus gen. et sp. nov. (Metapseudidae) has a unique combination of substantial rostrum, exopodites on the cheliped and pereopod 1, compact antenna, short uropod, simple pereonite setation, compact propodi, dorsum of pereopod 1 basis without apophyses, robust cheliped and antennule peduncle without inner row of conspicuous denticulation; Metapseudes wilsoni sp. nov., only the second species of this genus to be discovered, is distinguished by its conspicuously more slender antennules and antennae with more pronounced, pointed denticulations on the proximal antennule peduncle article, and one fewer article in the main fl agellum of the antennule; Similipedia diarris sp. nov., again the second species of this genus to be discovered, is distinguished by having no squama on the antenna, no rostrum, and dorsal spiniform apophyses rather than setae on the pereonites.

Another inordinate fondness†: diversity of the tanaidacean fauna of Australia, with description of three new taxa

“…Most recent studies in Australian waters (Larsen 2001;Bamber 2005Bamber , 2008aGuţu 2006;Błażewicz-Paszkowycz and Bamber 2007a, 2007b, 2009, 2012Edgar 2008) have found an extraordinary diversity and dominance of Tanaidacea when compared with other parts of the world. For example, Holdich and Jones (1983) listed 28 species in 20 genera for the long-studied British waters (although more recent studies have expanded this list significantly, including knowledge of unpublished taxa, e.g.…”

A new species of Numbakullidae Guţu & Heard, 2002 (Tanaidacea, Peracarida, Crustacea) from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

“…The best studied parts of the continent are the Bass Strait (Victoria) with 66 species (Błażewicz-Paszkowycz and Bamber 2007a, b, 2012; Bamber and Błażewicz-Paszkowycz 2013), Moreton Bay (Queensland) with 35 species (Boesch 1973; Guţu 2006a; Błażewicz-Paszkowycz and Bamber 2007a, b; Bamber 2008, 2013), and Esperance Bay (Western Australia) with 24 species (Bamber 2005). In contrast, the tropical coast of Australia with its coral reefs is comparatively poorly studied, with only 14 species of Tanaidacea described.…”

A new genus and new species of Agathotanaidae (Crustacea, Tanaidacea) from West Australia

“…Drawings were prepared using a microscope combined with a camera lucida and redrawn on a digital tablet as proposed by Coleman (2003). The morphological terminology follows that proposed by Błażewicz-Paszkowycz and Bamber (2007). The body-length to width ratio was calculated using measurements from tip of the rostrum to end of pleotelson and of the widest part of cephalothorax.…”