Tasmarcturus gen. nov.

Zoobank LSID. http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

9F13AC3F-F744-45E2-8868-6E34EFB34072

Type species. Tasmarcturus lewisi sp.nov., by original designation.

Diagnosis. Head, pereonites and anterior pereonites with paired blade-like submedian and sublateral tubercles or carinae, all secondarily tuberculate. Antenna 1.7–2 times dorsal length of (head + pereonite 1); article 3 cuboid, as long as or little longer than deep, with ventrolateral teeth; article 4 subspherical, about as long as fused articles (1 + 2); article 5 cylindrical, 2–2.5 times as long as article 4, 5 times as long as wide. Pereopod 2 propodus palm convex, denticulate; (dactylus body + unguis) 3 times as long as propodus; unguis setiform, as long as or little longer than dactylus body. Pereopod 3 similar to pereopod 2, unguis shorter. Male pleopod 1 exopod groove ending obliquely on truncate distolateral lobe, not extending beyond distomesial seta-bearing lamina. Male pleopod 1 endopod about as long as exopod length. Oostegites 5 a pair of adjacent oval discs.

Etymology. For Abel Tasman (1603–1659), the first European to reach the Australian state, Tasmania, and Arcturus, generic stem.

Composition. Tasmarcturus erinae sp. nov., T. jamesi sp. nov., T. simplicissimus (Whitelegge, 1904) .

Distribution. Southern Qld to Bass Strait, eastern Australia.

Remarks. Tasmarcturus comprises three Australian species, two new and one described as a species of Arcturus in 1904. All are common on the southeastern Australian shelf. The genus shares with Galathearcturus a compact antenna and elongate dactylus with setiform unguis on pereopods 2–4, but differs in having far more elaborate dorsal sculpture. The termination of the exopodal groove on the male pleopod 1 is similar to that in Rectarcturus; the structure is unknown in Galathearcturus . Sculpture can be used to differentiate the three species.