Saurodocus, Yerman, Michelle N. & Krapp-Schickel, Traudl, 2008

Yerman, Michelle N. & Krapp-Schickel, Traudl, 2008, A new genus and two new species of Saurodocus (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Melitidae) from Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia, Zootaxa 1820, pp. 60-66 : 61

Saurodocus gen. nov.

Type species. Saurodocus minimarenus sp. nov., by present designation.

Diagnosis. Head anteroventral margin without notch or slit. Maxilla 1 inner plate triangular. Mandible palp first article not distally produced without distal tooth-shaped prolongation, article 2 longer than article 3. Gnathopod 1 coxa anteroventral corner not produced. Pereopod 4 coxa without posteroventral lobe. Epimeral plates lacking serrations on posterior margin. Uropod 3 inner ramus subequal to outer ramus; outer ramus about twice as long as peduncle. Telson deeply cleft, lobes truncated with apical cusps and short apical robust setae.

Etymology. A combination of the Greek word Sauros, meaning lizard, alluding to the type locality, with the stem – docus from Ceradocus .

Included species. Saurodocus hobbit sp. nov. and S. minimarenus sp. nov.

Remarks. Saurodocus belongs to the Ceradocus group — a group of genera within the Melitidae allied to Ceradocus Costa, 1853 , united by a widened triangular inner plate on maxilla 2 and setation on the inner margin of the inner plates of both maxillae. The Ceradocus group will be treated in detail by Krapp-Schickel (in press). Saurodocus , however, appears to be an isolated genus within the group. This may be a result of independent adaptations to an interstitial lifestyle which has not been documented for other genera. Saurodocus is different from other genera in the group owing to a unique set of characters: article 3 of antenna 2 is globular and the anteroventral corner of coxa 1 is not produced. Saurodocus is presently known only from tropical Australian waters.