Biarticulata, Larsen, Kim & Shimomura, Michitaka, 2007

Larsen, Kim & Shimomura, Michitaka, 2007, Tanaidacea (Crustacea: Peracarida) from Japan. II. Tanaidomorpha from the East China Sea, the West Pacific Ocean and the Nansei Islands, Zootaxa 1464, pp. 1-43 : 19

Biarticulata n. gen.

Diagnosis. Female. Cheliped fixed finger and dactylus simple. Uropodal exopod with two articles.

Etymology. The genus is named for the presence of a biarticulated uropodal exopod.

Remarks. The new leptognathidean genus Biarticulata is here erected to accommodate the species listed below. It is freely admitted that the phylogenetic evidence for erection of this genus is weak, as it is dependant on only one character (which is probably homoplastic). However, as a working taxon, this organization seems to work.

Most of the species in this genus are too poorly described to construct a key. Furthermore, all the slides of the species described by Kudinova-Pasternak have been lost (Dr. M. BłaŻewicz-Paszkowycz, pers. comm.). This unfortunate fact is severely obstructing any attempts to revise the Leptognathia complex.

This genus currently composes of: Leptognathia arctophylax ( Norman & Stebbing, 1886) ; L. distincta Kudinova-Pasternak, 1981 ; L. elegans Kudinova-Pasternak, 1965 ; L. greveae Kudinova-Pasternak, 1976 ; L. mironovi Kudinova-Pasternak, 1981 ; L. parabranchiata Kudinova-Pasternak, 1977 *; L. paraelegans Kudinova-Pasternak, 1970 ; L. tuberculata (?) Hansen, 1913 and L. voeringi (G.O. Sars, 1877) .