Three new species of Cirolana Leach,1818 (Crustacea:Isopoda:Cirolanidae) from Australia
Memoirs of Museum Victoria Vol 58 (2) p. 347–364 (2001)
Abstract
Three new species are described from Australia, Cirolana australis sp. nov. off eastern and southern coasts of Tasmania, C. comata sp. nov. off north–eastern Queensland, and C. dissimilis sp. nov. off northern Western Australia, Northern Territory and northern Queensland. All appear o be associated primarily with coral or rocky reef habitat. Cirolana comata and C. dissimilis occur on the continental shelf C. australis on the continental slope at depths exceeded by few other species of Cirolana. The species are abundant in collections made using baited traps, indicating that they are scavengers and potentially important pests of fisheries. They have nodular sculpting on the pereon, pleon and pleotelson but differ from other Australian species with similar ornamentation in having the setae on the lateral margin of he uropod endopod in a continuous row, not in discrete widely spaced groups. Cirolana comata and C. dissimilis are sexually dimorphic and have a highly sclerotized robust seta on the posterodistal angle of the basis of pereopods 4–5. These and other shared characters suggest that the two are related.
Citation
Keable, S.J., 2001. Three new species of Cirolana Leach,1818 (Crustacea:Isopoda:Cirolanidae)from Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 58: 347-364. http://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2001.58.18
PUBLICATION DATE: 30 APRIL 2001