Aotearorchestia telluris Hughes & Lowry 2023, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Hughes, Lauren E.
name: Lowry, James K.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Amphipoda
Talitridae
Aotearorchestia
Aotearorchestia telluris

description: Aotearorchestia telluris (Spence Bate, 1862) comb. nov.
(Figs. 11–19, 66–67)
Orchestia telluris Spence Bate, 1862: 20, pl. 3, fig. 6; pl. 4, fig. 4.— Miers, 1876: 122.—G.M. Thomson, 1881: 209.— Thomson & Chilton, 1886: 145.—G.M. Thomson, 1913: 244.
Orchestia gammarellus.— Della Valle, 1893: 500 (in part).
Talorchestia telluris.— Stebbing, 1906: 551.— Chilton 1927: 175.— Stephensen, 1935: 12.— Stephensen, 1948: 13.— Hurley, 1956: 373, figs. 81–107.
Not Talorchestia telluris.— Chilton, 1917: 299–302 (in part), figs. 17, 18 (= H. chathamensis (Hurley, 1956)).
Type material examined. Syntypes: male, 12.7 mm [10/20 th of an inch]; female, 8.9 mm [7/20 th of an inch], dry pinned, BMNH 1844.3 (39), under dead leaf, coll. Mr Hook, HMS Erebus and Terror Expedition.
Material examined. 4 specimens (1 female 11 mm, 3 males 11 mm, 11 mm, 13 mm), BMNH 1928.12.1.2454– 2456, New Zealand, no other location details, Stebbing Collection; 11 specimens (including a male, 12 mm, SEM whole animal pin mount, parts on stubs; b male, 11 mm, dissected (parts in microvial); c male*, 12 mm, dissected (parts in microvial), NIWA 104075, stream side of dunes, Kaikorai Stream mouth, Dunedin (45 55′54″S 170 23′23″E), collected on the freshwater side of the dunes, fringing the entrance of a stream into the sea, September 1953 (station Z1603); 4 specimens NIWA 104076, Oruaiti Beach, East Cape (37°36′56″S 177° 56′33″E), collected from fine yellow sand next to stagnant pool of water well above high-tide mark, specimens active and jumped into the pool when disturbed and swam vigorously, 1 November 1951 (station Z16054).
Type locality. New Zealand.
Diagnosis. Gnathopod 2 without proximal spine defining palm, palm with large projections near dactylar hinge. Pereopod 7 carpus greatly enlarged, ovate.
Description (based on a male, 12 mm, b male, 11 mm, c male, 12 mm, NIWA 104075, ‘x’ female, 7.5 mm, NIWA 8387). Head. Eye medium size (greater than 1/5 to 1/3 head length). Antenna 1 long, reaching midpoint of peduncular article 5 of antenna 2. Antenna 2 less than half body length (0.28 × length); peduncular articles slender, with many large robust setae; article 5 longer than article 4; flagellar articles final article large, cone-shaped forming a virgula divina. Upper lip without apical setal patch; epistome with many robust setae. Lower lip distolateral setal tuft present, distomedial setal tuft present; without inner plates. Mandible left lacinia mobilis 4-cuspidate. Maxilla 1 with 1-articulate small palp. Maxilliped palp article 2 distomedial lobe well-developed; article 4 fused with article 3.
Pereon. Gnathopod 1 sexually dimorphic; subchelate; coxa smaller than coxa 2; carpus longer than propodus, 1.5 × as long as propodus, posterior margin with palmate lobe; propodus distally broad, twice as long as broad, anterior margin with 5 groups of robust setae, posterior margin with palmate lobe, palm transverse; dactylus simplidactylate, over-reaching palm length, without anterodistal denticular patch. Gnathopod 2 sexually dimorphic; subchelate; basis slender; ischium anterior margin with lateral and medial rounded lobe, lobes similar in size; carpus triangular, reduced, enclosed by merus and propodus; propodus 1.5–1.6 × as long as wide, palm subacute, 60% along posterior margin, evenly rounded, with subacute distomedial tooth, lined with robust setae, posteroproximal corner with groove, without cuticular patch at corner of palm; dactylus curved, subequal in length to palm, without anteroproximal bump, apically acute. Pereopods 3–4 coxae deeper than wide. Pereopods 3–7 asymmetrically tricuspidactylate laterally, dactylus without anterodistal denticular patch. Pereopod 3 carpus length twice width. Pereopod 4 significantly shorter than pereopod 3; carpus significantly shorter than carpus of pereopod 3, length 1.5 × width; dactylus without anterodistal denticular patch, posterior margin thickened proximally with 1 proximal and 1 distal projections. Pereopod 5 merus length 1.5 × width; carpus length twice width; propodus distinctly longer than carpus, length 4 × width; dactylus long, slender, length 5 × width. Pereopod 6 subequal in length to pereopod 7; coxa posterior lobe posteroventral corner rounded, crenulate, posterior margin perpendicular to ventral margin; merus broad, length twice width; carpus length 4 × width; propodus longer than carpus, length 6 × width. Pereopod 7 basis expanded, produced posteriorly, posterior margin convex, serrate, lined with small robust setae, lateral sulcus strongly pronounced; merus developed as a 3-dimensional complex article (see SEM image, Fig. 18), length 1.1 × width; carpus subovate, length 1.5 × width; propodus subequal to carpus, length 6.1 × width.
Pleon. Pleonites 1–2 without dorsal spines. Pleonite 3 without pair of well-developed carina. Pleopods 1–3 reduced, rami unsegmented. Epimera 1–2 posterior margin straight, smooth to weakly serrate. Epimeron 3 posteroventral corner produced, ventral margin without robust setae, posterior margin straight, smooth to weakly serrate, lined with robust setae. Uropod 1 not sexually dimorphic; peduncle with 13 robust setae, with apical spearshaped setae; rami positioned directly on top of each other; endopod subequal in length to exopod, with 7 marginal robust setae in 2 rows; exopod with 4 marginal robust setae. Uropod 2 peduncle with 11 robust setae; endopod subequal in length to exopod, with 6 marginal robust setae in 2 rows; exopod with 3 marginal robust setae in 1 row. Urosomite 3 subrectangular, not engulfing telson, broader than deep, 1.5 × as broad as deep. Uropod 3 margin not accommodating telson, length twice depth, with 6 robust setae; ramus linear, not fused to peduncle, longer than peduncle, 4 × as long as broad, with row of 12 marginal setae. Telson subovate, margins convex, weakly incised apically, dorsal midline entire, with 12–13 dorsal, marginal and apical robust setae per lobe; length not extending beyond uropod 3 peduncle.
Variation. The male gnathopod 2 propodus shows relatively little variation, with the proximal palmar tooth more produced and apically acute in larger individuals (12+ mm). The expansion of the pereopod 7 carpus develops posteriorly (with the dorsal and ventral margins parallel) and the medial surface becoming more convex in larger growth stages.
Size. Males 13 mm; females 11 mm.
Remarks. See remarks for A. chathamensis.
Habitat. Supralittoral.
Distribution. New Zealand. North Island: Waiwera; Auckland; Orouiti Beach (Chilton 1917; Hurley 1956). South Island: Kaikoura; St Kilda; Dunedin (Hurley 1956). Stewart Island (Thomson 1880, 1913).
description: Published as part of Hughes, Lauren E. & Lowry, James K., 2023, Review of New Zealand Coastal Talitroids with description of three new genera (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Senticaudata), pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 5268 (1) on pages 18-24, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5268.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7840854