Anacalliacidae Manning and Felder, 1991

Poore, Gary C. B., Dworschak, Peter C., Robles, Rafael, Mantelatto, Fernando L. & Felder, Darryl L., 2019, A new classification of Callianassidae and related families (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea) derived from a molecular phylogeny with morphological support, Memoirs of Museum Victoria (Mem. Mus. Vic.) 78, pp. 73-146 : 81-82

Anacalliacidae Manning and Felder, 1991

Figure 5

Anacalliinae Manning and Felder, 1991: 786. Anacalliacinae .— Sakai, 1999a: 126.— Sakai, 2005b: 208–210. Anacalliacidae .— Sakai, 2011: 341.

Type genus. Anacalliax de Saint Laurent, 1973 .

Diagnosis. Rostrum flat, short, triangular, shorter than eyestalks; median carina on rostrum only; gastric carinae absent; cervical groove well defined; suture between ocular lobe and end of linea thalassinica horizontal in lateral view; anterior branchiostegal margin sinusoidal or semicircular; anterior branchiostegal lobe simple, scarcely calcified, merging smoothly with anterodorsal branchiostegal angle and anterolateral margin of carapace; posterior margin of carapace without lateral lobes, pleomere 1 without anterolateral lobes, weakly chitinised. Eyestalks flattened, contiguous, with subdistal dorsal cornea. Antennal scaphocerite elongate. Maxilla scaphognathite without long seta on posterior lobe extending into branchial chamber. Maxilliped 1 epipod with acute anterior lobe lying alongside exopod. Maxilliped 3 propodus longer than wide, not prominently lobed on lower margin; dactylus slender, digitiform, with setae irregularly spaced along all margins. Cheliped merus lower margin spinose; major cheliped palm oval in cross-section, barely crested above or below. Pereopod 3 propodus broad, with proximal lobe on lower margin, without distal spiniform setae on lateral face (often with 1 distal spiniform seta on lower margin). Pereopod 5 minutely chelate or subchelate. Female pleopod 2 rami narrower and with more reduced setation than pleopods 3–5; endopod 2–5 times as long as wide. Pleopods 3–5 with oblique peduncles, endopods oval, exopods attached laterally, not proximally lobed, shorter than and barely overlapping endopods; appendices internae reduced and almost embedded in mesial margin of endopod. Uropodal exopod with margin divided by notch.

Remarks. The only genus, Anacalliax de Saint Laurent, 1973 , is recognised by the unique combination of a short flat rostrum and the uropodal exopod having a marginal notch.

The subfamily Anacalliacinae (misspelled Anacalliinae) was erected by Manning and Felder (1991) as one of three subfamilies of Ctenochelidae , the others being Ctenochelinae and Callianopsinae. Manning and Felder (1991) included Paracalliax , Gourretia and Dawsonius in the nominate subfamily and only their type genus in the other two. This arrangement reflects in a single family, with all four basally derived families recognised in Robles et al.’s (in press) analysis as a paraphyletic grouping. Sakai (2005b) treated the taxon as a subfamily of Callianassidae while retaining Gourretiidae for other subfamilies. Sakai (2011) elevated the taxon to family level. The family comprises a single genus. Two genera erected by Sakai (2011) are herein synonymised, Anacalliaopsis with Anacalliax , and Capecalliax with Balsscallichirus ( Callichiridae ; see below).

The similarity of the “dorsal oval” to that of Callianassa s.s. was highlighted in Sakai’s (2011) discussion of this group, but this character grades to such an extent throughout all families that we were unable to use it at any level. The broad (almost axiid-like) article 2 of the male pleopod 1, presence of an appendix masculina on the male pleopod 2, absence of any tooth on the merus of the cheliped, absence of a dorsal plate on the uropodal exopod and absence of a distal lobe on the epipod of maxilliped 1 suggest a basal position for this family, as realised by Manning and Felder (1991).

The family is known only from the type material of its two species. No specimen was available for inclusion in the molecular analysis.

Figures

Figure 5. Diagnostic characters of Anacalliacidae, Anacalliax: a, dorsal anterior carapace, eyestalks, antennules, antennae; b, lateral carapace; c, maxilliped 3; d, male pleopod 1; e, female pleopod 2; f, telson, uropod.