Subgenus Dendrocephalus (sensu stricto) Daday 1908

Diagnosis (Figure 1 C). Everted penes long, extending to abdominal segment two or three. Rigid basal portions short, each with a single sub­conical medial projection. Everted penes with sub­terminal tubercle on medial side, bearing comb plate. Male with endopodites of first or first and second thoracopods modified: usually with cornified projection bearing one or more stout spines, or projecting as a spine itself.

Twelve described species from Argentina to Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands. This subgenus reaches its greatest diversity in the South American northwestern tropics, and there are probably other species to be discovered. Pereira (1983) redefined this genus quantitatively, and standardized the frontal appendage morphological terminology, developing a system that is equally applicable to other genera with species that bear a frontal appendage.