A review of the families and genera of the hyperiidean amphipod superfamily Phronimoidea Bowman & Gruner, 1973 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Hyperiidea)
Author
Zeidler, Wolfgang
text
Zootaxa
2004
2004-07-14
567
1
66
journal article
4802
10.11646/zootaxa.567.1.1
173cf168-6357-4b76-955f-7b523590ff1d
11755334
5259734
41C7D868-7BD9-46F4-94F1-EBEA427E2836
Genus
Phronimopsis
Claus, 1879
Remarks
This genus is monotypic. It is easily recognised by the distinctively chelate second gnathopods and by the phronimid
type
of body of females. Virtually nothing is known regarding its biology, other than that it seems to be an epipelagic species (
Thurston 1976
), found in surface layers down to a depth of
300–500m
(
Vinogradov
et al
. 1982
). The only record of an association with gelatinous plankton is with the ctenophore
Beroe forskalii
(
Krumbach 1911
)
. The prehensile structure of pereopods 3–7 strongly suggests a parasitic existence. It is relatively uncommon, but widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions of the world’s oceans.
It should be noted here that
Claus (1878: 270)
mentions
Phronimopsis
in a general paper on hyperiideans but does not provide any characters to distinguish it from other genera. Obviously Claus intended this paper to follow his diagnosis of the genus in 1879. As
Claus (1878)
did not diagnose the genus, and for the sake of nomenclatural stability,
Phronimopsis
should be credited with
Claus (1879)
.
Species
:
Phronimopsis spinifera
Claus, 1879
.