Scopelocheirus Spence Bate, 1857

Zettler, Michael L., Bastrop, Ralf & Lowry, James K., 2023, Ten thousand kilometres away and still the same species? The mystery of identity of Scopelocheirus sp. (Amphipoda: Scopelocheiridae) from the South Atlantic, Records of the Australian Museum (Rec. Aust. Mus.) 75 (4), pp. 609-622 : 613

Scopelocheirus Spence Bate, 1857

Callisoma O. G. Costa, 1838: 5 (nomen nudum)—A. Costa, 1851: 1 (homonym, Coleoptera ).— Lilljeborg, 1865a: 33.— Lilljeborg, 1865b: 23.— Heller, 1866: 26.— Boeck, 1871: 101.— Boeck, 1872: 131.—G. O. Sars, 1890: 52.— Della Valle, 1893: 838.

Scopelocheirus Spence Bate, 1857: 138 .—Stebbing, 1906: 61.— Chevreux & Fage, 1925: 54.—Stephensen, 1929: 64.—Schellenberg, 1942: 110.— Gurjanova, 1951: 241.—J. L. Barnard, 1969: 362.— Lincoln, 1979: 50.— Diviacco & Ruffo, 1989: 542.— Barnard & Karaman, 1991: 528, 434 (key), 454 (key).

Diagnosis. Mandible lacinia mobilis a stemmed, distally expanded, irregularly cusped blade; palp article 2 broadened. Maxilla 2 inner plate slightly longer than outer; outer plate without long distally barbed slender setae. Gnathopod 1 coxa margins diverging distally. Pereopod 5 slightly wider than long; basis greatly expanded posteriorly (after Kilgallen & Lowry, 2015).

Type species. Scopelocheirus crenatus Spence Bate, 1857 .

Included species. S. crenatus Spence Bate, 1857 , S. hopei (Costa in Hope, 1851), S. polymedus Bellan-Santini, 1985 , S. sossi sp. nov.

Remarks. Until the revision of the scopelocheirid amphipods by Kilgallen & Lowry (2015), Scopelocheirus crenatus Spence Bate, 1857 was treated by many authors as a junior synonym of S. hopei (Costa in Hope, 1851). However, as these names have been recorded many times in the literature and appear common in the north-east Atlantic and Mediterranean, the result is a confused synonymy. As noted by Kilgallen & Lowry (2015) the issue is still not sufficiently resolved, as this will require an extensive, detailed study of materials from the type localities and known distributions of both species. This is beyond the scope of this study.