Paraproto, Mayer, 1903

Takeuchi, Ichiro & Lowry, James K., 2015, A taxonomic study on the Phtisicidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda) of New South Wales, Australia, Journal of Natural History 50, pp. 603-648 : 640-641

Paraproto sp.

( Figure 21 )

Material examined

AM P87328,? 1 male, 35°08.84 ʹ S, 150°45.71 ʹ E, near the bottom end of vertical wall, 1 nautical mile south of Governor Head, out of Jervis Bay , New South Wales, brown algae (like Sporochnus ), 20 m, 28 February 1996, coll . I . Takeuchi, A . Murray and R . T. Johnson .

Locality

New South Wales: 1 nautical mile south of Governor Head, out of Jervis Bay (this study).

Description

? Male, body length, 2.74 mm, AM P87328. Body slender, cylindrical with vestigial pleosome. Head/pereonite 1 combined length 0.38 mm; pereonite 2, 0.33 mm; pereonite 3, 0.41 mm; pereonite 4, 0.43 mm; pereonite 5, 0.54 mm; pereonite 6, 0.42 mm; pereonite 7, 0.23 mm.

Head/pereonite 1 without projections or humps.

Antenna 1 1/2 × body length; peduncle article 2 longest; flagellum 0.9 × peduncular length; with five articles. Antenna 2 0.4 × antenna 1 length; flagellum 0.4 × peduncular length; with two articles.

Pereon. Pereonites 2–7 without projections or humps; pereonite 5 longest.

Gnathopod 2 basis without anterodistal projection; carpus 0.1 × propodus length; propodus large, subovate, 2 × width; palm smooth.

Pereonite 3 gill elongate, cylindrical, 0.8 × corresponding pereonite. Pereopod 3 slender; basis to carpus cylindrical; basis longer than other pereopod articles, 2/5 × the pereopod length; propodus without distal palm and robust setae; dactylus falcate/curved. Pereonite 4 gill length about 3/4 × corresponding pereonite. Pereopod 4 similar to pereopod 3. Pereopod 5 slender; propodus concave; dactylus medium length, curved, without setae.

Pleon. Uropod 1, peduncle, elongate, about 5 × width; ramus about 0.3 × peduncular length. Uropod 2, peduncle, elongate, about 4 × width; ramus about 0.2 × peduncular length.

Habitat

Marine, littoral.

Remarks

Four species of Paraproto have been recorded from the Australian coasts before the present study: P. condylata ( Haswell, 1885a) from Australia, P. gabrieli Stebbing, 1914 from Victoria, P. spinosa ( Haswell, 1885a) from Victoria and P. tasmaniensis Guerra-García and Takeuchi, 2004 . Of the four species of Paraproto , P. condylata and P. tasmaniensis have the body smooth, as in the present species. However, because of the lack of a modern description of P. condylata from Australia we hesitate to identify this small individual.

Paraproto condylata was first reported by Haswell (1885a) as Proto condylata Haswell, 1885a . He never noted the specific locality for this species in Australia unlike the record for P. spinosa ( Haswell, 1885a) that was recorded as “ only in one locality-Port Western, Victoria. ” Dr William A. Haswell served the University of Sydney around that period ( Morison 1983). If P. condylata was collected from Victoria or other states, there is a high possibility that he would have recorded the locality as for P. spinosa ( Haswell, 1885a) . Hence, P. condylata might have been collected from Sydney or adjacent areas along the coasts of New South Wales, Australia. Mayer (1903) also noted “ Paraproto condylata ? ” in the species list of “ Sydney (Port Jackson and Broken Bay) ”. The type material of P. condylata described by Haswell (1885a) is missing ( Springthorpe and Lowry 1994). McCain and Gray (1971) reported the occurrence of “ P. condylata ” from South Shetland Islands, Antarctica with several illustrations. Guerra-Garcia and Coleman (2001) redescribed and figured “ P. condylata ” based on the specimens collected by the Polarstern cruise ANT XIV/2 from South Shetland Islands. Their description and figures in general agree with the description by McCain and Gray (1971). De Broyer et al. (2004) identified Antarctic “ P. condylata ” as Paraproto sp. due to several morphological differences between the Australian and Antarctic specimens. Based on Antarctic “ P. condylata ” a new species is proposed ( Takeuchi, forthcoming 2015).

Figures

Figure 21. Paraproto sp. from south of Governor Head, out of Jervis Bay, New South Wales.? Male, 2.74 mm, AM P87328. Bar indicates 0.50 mm.