Paraleiopus Brum, 1978

DRUMM, DAVID T. & HEARD, RICHARD W., 2011, Systematic revision of the family Kalliapseudidae (Crustacea: Tanaidacea), Zootaxa 3142 (1), pp. 1-172 : 35

Genus Paraleiopus Brum, 1978

Paraleiopus Brum, 1978: 639 . Guţu, 1981: 94, 95, 106. Băcescu and Absalao, 1985: 53. Guţu, 1996: 137, 140, 1998: 181, 2001: 69, 2006: 163. Bamber et al., 2003: 51.

Type species. Paraleiopus macrochelis Brum, 1978 (monotypy).

Diagnosis. Modified according to Guţu (1996a).

Without spiniform apophyses on carapace, pereon and pleon. Ocular lobes present, without visual elements. Pleonites with one pair of lateral plumose setae and dorsolateral simple setae. Antenna with four–articulated peduncle; last article longer than others; squama present, well developed. Mandibles with three–articulated palp. Labial palp with one terminal and one subterminal long spiniform seta. Cheliped and pereopod 1 with exopodite. Pereopod 1 without coxal spine and dactylus with one long bifid seta near unguis. Pereopods 2–5 dactylus with attenuated elongate “seta–like” unguis. Pereopod 6 with normal unguis.

Remarks. Paraleiopus is a monotypic genus found in the SW Atlantic off Brazil. The genus Paraleiopus was originally placed in the family Leiopidae Lang, 1970 (Silva Brum, 1978); however, Băcescu and Absalao (1985), realizing its affinity to Hemikalliapseudes cavooreni placed it in the family Kalliapseudidae as a subgenus of the genus Hemikalliapseudes . Guţu (1996) recognized that it exhibited enough distinctive characters to warrant full generic rank.