BOOK REVIEW

Callianassoidea are, among Thalassinidea, the most speciose group. Due to their burrowing life style, specimens are difficult to obtain, especially from deeper sedimentary bottoms. This has lead to description of numerous species based on single and/or incomplete specimens, which renders their taxonomy and systematic notoriously difficult. Katsushi Sakai is without doubt the most experienced contemporary researcher on the taxonomy of thalassinideans. He has been active in this field since 1967 and has described about one quarter of the more than 200 species currently recognised within the Callianassoidea. His new review of the superfamily starts with a short preface (1 p.) followed by an introduction (2 pp.). The systematic account starts with a tabular overview of families, subfamilies, genera, and numbers of species, and continues with the diagnosis of the superfamily Callianassoidea in its new sense (2 pp.). This is followed by a key to the subfamilies and genera recognised by Sakai (2 pp.). The systematic part continues with the family Callianassidae and its first subfamily Callianassinae. Here, Sakai argues at length (17 pp.) why all the previously erected 12 genera have to be synonymised with Callianassa. Within the genus, species are arranged according to broad geographical regions and alphabetically within each region. For each species, an extensive synonymy is given, a brief ‘‘Diagnosis’’ (sometimes under the heading ‘‘Remarks,’’ basically restricted to the shape of maxilliped 3, the margins of its merus, male and female pleopod 1, and the shape of the telson), type locality, distribution, and for some species true ‘‘Remarks. ’’ The new species and some new material are described in detail and are illustrated in one to three figures. This continues through the subfamilies Callichirinae, Eucalliacinae, Calliapagurinae, Anacalliacinae, the new subfamily Lipkecallianassinae, Bathycalliacinae, the new subfamily Paracalliacinae, and finally the families Gourretiidae (with the subfamilies Gourretiinae, Callianopsinae, and the new subfamily Pseudogourretiinae) and the family Ctenochelidae (in which is included only one subfamily Ctenochelinae and genus, Ctenocheles). After the acknowledgements (1 p.) follows a one-page ‘‘note added in proof’’ on the genus Dawsonius, and 27 pages of references. A taxonomic index (10 pp.) allows easy access to every taxon mentioned in the book. Generally, this monograph is a merger of several of Sakai’s previous papers, based mainly on his 1999 ‘‘Synopsis’’ of the Callianassidae (Sakai, 1999b) and later papers on the callianassids of the Andaman Sea and the Plante collection (Sakai, 2002, 2004). The concept is the same; synonymising many genera erected previously within the Callianassinae with one large single genus Callianassa. In doing so, he dismisses the views of authors such as Manning and Felder (1991), Poore (1994), and Tudge et al. (2000). Although I can understand this action up to a point, especially as alternatives are neither free of errors nor convincing, it goes too far within the Callichirinae when synonymising Corallianassa with Glypturus. Sakai for the first time recognises the subfamily Callichirinae. What’s really new are 13 species and additional material from the collections of the Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen, which comprise samples from the Galathea Expedition 1950-1952, Dr. Th. Mortensen’s expeditions, including the Java-South African Expedition 1929-1930, and Dr. G. Thorson’s Persian Expedition. The book is quite up-to-date, albeit selectively. It considers all work of Sakai up to 2005, which is understandable since these data were readily available to him, and those of other workers up to 2003 (Ngoc-Ho, Felder). Some papers from that year, however, were ignored or overlooked, including two further new species (Biffarius pacificus Guzman and Thatje, 2003; Callianassa aqabaensis Dworschak, 2003). Many earlier papers dealing with species from the Atlantic have been overlooked, e.g., Blanco-Rambla (1995, 1998, 2000), Vargas and Cortés (1999), Abed-Navandi (2000) as well as others from the Sea of Japan (Komai et al., 2002), which therefore result in incomplete distribution accounts for the species in question. In several cases, Sakai missed data he published himself. ‘‘The Devil is in the detail. ’’ . this applies especially to this book. There are so many major and minor errors, that listing them all would go beyond the space allocated for this review. A reviewer should have spotted many of these with little difficulty. A few are mentioned below. It begins already in the preface (p. 1) with ‘‘Two genera, Necallianassa and . are synonymized with Callianassa. Corallichirus bayeri is recognized as a junior synonym of Gourretia assimilis. ’’ Actually, Necallianassa was already synonymised in Sakai (1999b: 128) and Corallichirus bayeri is synonymised with Glypturus assimilis on p. 138. The key to the subfamilies and genera (pp. 7-8) contains several errors: couplet 14 states ‘‘uropodal exopod with lateral notch . Calliax’’. In the definition of the genus (p. 196), however, one reads ‘‘Uropodal . exopod without lateral notch’’. There is actually only one species within Calliax (sensu Sakai) that shows a lateral notch on the uropodal exopod, i.e., the type species C. lobata as stated later (p. 197). The genera Paragourretia and Laurentgourretia are not included at all in the key. Curiously, the subfamilies do not group within their respective families in the key. In the diagnoses of the (sub)families, e.g., pp. 9 and 11, the shape of the third maxilliped is characterised as ‘‘pediform, subpediform, suboperculiform, or operculiform’’. There is, however, no definition given for these