A new genus and new species of Sphaeromatidae (Crustacea: Isopoda) from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Abstract

Pooredoce garyi gen. nov., sp. nov., is described from Lizard Island, northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The genus is related to the group of sphaeromatid genera characterised by having long ‘fi nger-like’ extensions to the articles of the maxilliped palp, stout robust setae on the inferior margins of pereopods 1–3 and the uropodal endopod round in section, with the exopod about half as long as the endopod; similar genera are Cymodoce Leach, 1814 (Indo-Pacifi c species), Koremasphaera Bruce, 2003 and Oxinasphaera Bruce, 1997. Pooredoce gen. nov. is characterized by the adult male having a dorsally recessed dorsum to the pleotelson, the posterior margin of which has three enclosed foramens, two visible dorsally, the third visible only from the interior of the posterior margin, the two foramens are formed by the pleotelson posterolateral and median margin forms an irregular posteriorly directed ridge. Pooredoce garyi was collected from the reef crest and is known from the type locality, Lizard Island and at Hicks Reef.