A new genus and two new species of Saurodocus (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Melitidae) from Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia
Author
Yerman, Michelle N.
Author
Krapp-Schickel, Traudl
text
Zootaxa
2008
1820
60
66
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.183004
d7698c2a-fe3d-4ab3-8cdc-de58350741b1
1175-5326
183004
Saurodocus
gen. nov.
Type
species.
Saurodocus minimarenus
sp. nov.
, by present designation.
Diagnosis.
Head
anteroventral margin without notch or slit.
Maxilla 1
inner plate triangular.
Mandible palp
first article not distally produced without distal tooth-shaped prolongation, article 2 longer than article 3.
Gnathopod 1
coxa anteroventral corner not produced.
Pereopod 4
coxa without posteroventral lobe. Epimeral plates lacking serrations on posterior margin.
Uropod 3
inner ramus subequal to outer ramus; outer ramus about twice as long as peduncle.
Telson
deeply cleft, lobes truncated with apical cusps and short apical robust setae.
Etymology.
A combination of the Greek word
Sauros
, meaning lizard, alluding to the
type
locality, with the stem –
docus
from
Ceradocus
.
Included species.
Saurodocus hobbit
sp. nov
.
and
S. minimarenus
sp. nov.
Remarks.
Saurodocus
belongs to the
Ceradocus
group — a group of genera within the
Melitidae
allied to
Ceradocus
Costa, 1853
, united by a widened triangular inner plate on maxilla 2 and setation on the inner margin of the inner plates of both maxillae. The
Ceradocus
group will be treated in detail by Krapp-Schickel (in press).
Saurodocus
, however, appears to be an isolated genus within the group. This may be a result of independent adaptations to an interstitial lifestyle which has not been documented for other genera.
Saurodocus
is different from other genera in the group owing to a unique set of characters: article 3 of antenna 2 is globular and the anteroventral corner of coxa 1 is not produced.
Saurodocus
is presently known only from tropical Australian waters.