Anarthruridae Lang, 1971

Bird, Graham J., 2007, Leptognathiidae Sieg, 1976 *, Zootaxa 1599, pp. 61-85 : 62

Family Anarthruridae Lang, 1971

Family Anarthruridae Lang, 1971: 366 –367. Sieg, 1978: 119 –121 (erection of subfamily Anarthrurinae). Sieg, 1986b: 140. Sieg, 1986a: 17 (partim).

Subfamily Anarthrurinae: Sieg, 1986a: 21, 58–60 (partim, as Tribe Anarthrurini ). Larsen & Wilson, 1998: 360, table 1. Gutu & Sieg, 1999: 384.

Family Anarthruridae Lang, 1971 [revised]: Larsen & Wilson, 2002: 12. Bird, 2004: 6 –8. Larsen, 2005: 141.

Genera included (Japanese and trench genera in bold): Anarthrura G.O. Sars, 1882 ; Anarthrurella Bird, 2004 ; Anarthruropsis Lang, 1968 ; Anisopechys Bird, 2004 ; Ithyomus Bird 2004 ; Siphonolabrum Lang, 1972 , Synanarthrura Bird, 2004 ; Thorkelius Bird, 2004 .

Remarks. The taxonomic history of the Anarthruridae is quite convoluted and has seen several familial revisions and amendments ( Lang 1971, Sieg 1978, Sieg 1986a, Larsen & Wilson 2002), the most recent being that by Bird (op.cit.), based on some Anarthruridae from the North-East Atlantic. In the last, novel (for the family) morphological characters such as cheliped ‘folds’, maxilliped palp and pereopod setation were invoked to help diagnose and classify existing and undescribed taxa. Sieg (1986b) and Larsen (2005) pointed out problems in separating Siphonolabrum from Anarthruropsis and the doubtful position in the genus of S. langi Kudinova-Pasternak, 1981 , but as Siphonolabrum and Anarthruropsis were not recorded in the North- East Atlantic study (Bird op.cit.), these genera were not discussed in any detail.