Australian and South African conicostomatine amphipods (Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Lysianassidae: Conicostomatinae subfam. nov.)
Author
Lowry, J. K.
Author
Stoddart, H. E.
text
Zootaxa
2012
2012-03-27
3248
1
43
65
https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3248.1.4
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3248.1.4
1175-5326
5249133
Conicostomatinae
subfam. nov.
Diagnosis.
Head partially covered by coxa 1 or completely covered by pereonite 1 and coxa 1. Epistome and upper lip fused. Maxilla 2 inner plate subequal in length to outer plate. Maxilliped coxa and basis enlarged; palp article 4 reduced or absent. Mouthpart bundle subconical. Gnathopod 1 simple; propodus small; dactylus slightly curved. Urosome compressed.
Included genera.
Acontiostoma
Stebbing, 1888
;
Amphorites
gen. nov.
;
Conicostoma
Lowry & Stoddart, 1983
;
Ocosingo
J.L.
Barnard, 1964
;
Scolopostoma
Lowry & Stoddart, 1983
and
Stomacontion
Stebbing, 1899
.
Remarks.
Lowry & Stoddart (1983)
also included in their ‘conicostomatid’ group the genera
Acidostoma
Lilljeborg, 1865
,
Phoxostoma
K.H.
Barnard, 1925
,
Shackletonia
K.H.
Barnard, 1931
and
Socarnoides
Stebbing, 1888
(
type
species only). Further study has shown that these genera, although they do have conical or subconical mouthpart bundles, do not belong in the conicostomatine group;
Acidostoma
and
Shackletonia
have recently been assigned to a new lysianassoid family,
Acidostomatidae
by Lowry & Stoddart (in press);
Phoxostoma
and
Socarnoides
remain for now in the subfamily
Lysianassinae
.
Phoxostoma
differs from conicostomatines in having the outer plate of maxilla 2 offset from the inner plate and in not having a compressed urosome.
Socarnoides
has a left lacinia mobilis, the epistome and upper lip separate and does not have a compressed urosome – all characters that exclude it from the conicostomatines.
The genus
Stomacontion
is problematic (
Lowry & Stoddart 1983
;
Rauschert 1997
). It has in the past contained too much generic level variability. One set of species formerly considered in the genus contain a synapomorphy in the form of a vase-shaped palp on maxilla 1. In this paper we remove these taxa to the new genus
Amphorites
and this appears to stabilise the
Stomacontion
concept. The very poorly known taxon,
Stomacontion capense
K.H.
Barnard, 1916
, cannot be placed in a genus and is considered as
incertae sedis
. It is possible that
S. insigne
and
S. bulbus
are synonyms.