Persianorchestia, a new talitrid genus (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) from Gulf of Oman, Iran Author Momtazi, Farzaneh Author Lowry, Jim Author Hekmatara, Maryam text Zootaxa 2017 4238 1 119 126 journal article 36360 10.11646/zootaxa.4238.1.9 6f5c3fe7-b35d-4b04-89fd-b881ac6f82eb 1175-5326 345053 8FCAADEB-CE0C-4D78-8C9B-75962FA10356 Persianorchestia gen. nov. Type species. Persianorchestia nirvana sp. nov. , original designation. Included species. Persianorchestia includes 1 species: P. nirvana sp. nov. Ecological type. Sand-hoppers Etymology. The genus is named for its geographic locality plus the stem, Orchestia . Diagnosis (based on adult male). Head eye large (greater than 1/3 head length). Antenna 1 short, not longer that peduncular article 4 of antenna 2. Antenna 2 peduncular articles slender, article 3 without plate or process ventrally; final article large, cone-shaped virgula divina present. Mandible left lacinia mobilis 5-cuspidate. Maxilliped palp article 2 distomedial lobe well developed; article 4 reduced, button-shaped. Gnathopod 1 parachelate or simple; posterior margin of carpus and propodus each with lobe covered in palmate setae ; propodus palm angle acute. Gnathopod 2 subchelate; propodus palm without protuberance near dactylar hinge; dactylus not modified distally, blunt, shorter than propodus. Pereopods 3–7 cuspidactylate. Pereopod 4 dactylus similar to that of pereopod 3 (but with mid-ventral dome and large robust seta) . Pereopod 5 dactylus long, slender . Pereopods 6–7 slender, not sexually dimorphic. Pleonite 1–3 without dorsal spines. Pleopods all well developed. Epimera 1–3 without slits just above ventral margins. Uropod 1 rami with apical spear-shaped setae ; outer ramus without marginal robust setae ; inner ramus with marginal robust setae in one row. Uropod 2 rami with apical spear-shaped setae; outer and inner rami with marginal robust setae in one row. Uropod 3 ramus longer than or subequal in length to peduncle. Telson broader than long, tapering distally, apically incised, with 5–6 marginal and apical robust setae per lobe . Remarks. Persianorchestia is similar to Pseudorchestoidea Bousfield, 1982 , in the sense of Lowry and Bopiah (2012) . Both genera have large eyes covering much of the head, palmate lobes on the carpus and merus of gnathopod 1, uropod 1 without marginal robust setae on the outer ramus and bearing apical spear-shaped setae on the rami of uropods 1–2, but Persianorchestia has a slender dactylus on pereopod 5 (inflated in Pseudorchestoidea ), a smooth posterior margin on the propodus palm of male gnathopod 2 (weak to strong protuberance near dactylar hinge in Pseudorchestoidea ) and on the dactylus (with posteroproximal protuberance in Pseudorchestoidea ). Geographically Pseudorchestoidea occurs on the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America.