A new species of Corallana Dana, 1852 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Corallanidae) from the Andaman Islands, northern Indian Ocean
Author
Anil, Pathan
0000-0003-2995-1988
Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Brookshabad Campus, Port Blair- 744112, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India & anil. federer 070 @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 2995 - 1988
anil.federer070@gmail.com
Author
Bruce, Niel L.
Biodiversity & Geosciences Program, Queensland Museum, PO Box: 3300, South Brisbane BC, Queensland 4101, Australia; and Water Research Group, Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Private Bag X 6001, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa
Author
Jayaraj, K. A.
0000-0002-4767-1376
Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Brookshabad Campus, Port Blair- 744112, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India & jayarajun @ rediffmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 4767 - 1376
jayarajun@rediffmail.com
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-01-06
5087
2
357
371
journal article
2784
10.11646/zootaxa.5087.2.6
68872109-1d3f-4150-a6ea-a7147f867c9c
1175-5326
5824204
EC8ED2AB-376A-412C-9CD3-86F9EF0CB70F
Genus
Corallana
Dana, 1852
Corallana
Dana, 1852:204
;
1853:773
.—
Schioedte & Meinert 1879:286
.—
Stebbing 1904a:13
;
1904b:704
.—
Barnard 1914:358
a;
1955:59
.—
Pillai 1967:272
.—
Kensley 1978:75
.—Bruce 1982: 42.—
Delaney & Brusca 1985: 728
[key].—
Delaney1989: 22
.
Type
species:
Corallana hirticauda
Dana, 1853
; by monotypy.
Remarks.
The genus has most recently been reviewed by
Delaney (1989)
who gave a genus diagnosis, listed all the included species at that time, and gave a key to the genera of
Corallanidae
. That generic diagnosis is not in need of revision, but we draw attention to the prime characters for identifying the genus, which are elongate maxilliped, with notably quadrate articles and elongate basis (3.5–4.0 as long as wide), frontal lamina generally small, sometimes reduced or absent and, typically in mature individuals, the uropoda have an elongate exopod that extends to or beyond the posterior margin of the endopod. Other characters rest largely with the mouthparts and require dissection to observe; these are maxillula strongly curved, with single unguis-like apex and the maxilla is a simple bi-articled lobe. The genus that is most often confused with
Corallana
is
Tachaea
, but the latter genus can best be separated by the maxilliped palp with short and less quadrate articles, and often with some fusion of those articles.
Delaney (1989)
identified the following characters as generic apomorphies: mandible incisor either short or long (most other genera have a shorter mandibular incisor); maxilliped slender, basis narrow and very elongate (length = 2.0–4.0 times width); and frontal lamina usually reduced, sometimes absent.
Identification of species of
Corallana
has long been and continues to be difficult, as evidenced by the numerous instances of misidentified species at both genus and species level. Further, several of the species described in 1800s are simply unrecognizable (see species list herein) and cannot be applied to collected specimens. Many species are very similar to each other and another difficulty lies with the species characters being shown primarily by mature adults. It therefore also must be considered that a number of the species described from one locality (“Ubay”) in the
Philippines
by
Schioedte & Meinert (1879)
may be different stages of maturity of the same species.
The frontal lamina in the genus
Corallana
.
Figure 2
provides a comparison of the shape of the frontal lamina for those species of
Corallana
for which it has been illustrated, including records of
Corallana
sp.
It can be seen that, while the frontal lamina is usually relatively small compared to
Argathona
and perhaps
Alcirona
, when present the shape varies considerably between species. As such the frontal lamina is a useful character to both identify species, but also to identify the immature stages of species. At least two species,
Corallana nodosa
of
Beng Chu & Bruce (2010
, figs 1–3; not
Corallana nodosa
Schioedte & Meinert, 1879
) and
Corallana grandiventra
Ho & Tonguthai, 1992
appear to lack a visible frontal lamina. A clear figure of the frontal lamina should be included in all descriptions of species of
Corallana
.