Three new species of 'Cirolana' Leach, 1818 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cirolanidae) from Australia

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 Que...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memoirs of Museum Victoria 2001-01, Vol.58 (2), p.347-364
Main Author: Keable, S. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomy
Cirolanidae
Crustacea
Ecology
Isopoda
Speciesism
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Description
Summary: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 to 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 the 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.
ISSN:1447-2546
1447-2546
1447-2554
DOI:10.24199/j.mmv.2001.58.18