Talorchestia, Dana, 1852

Azman, B. A. R., 2017, The talitrid amphipod genus Talorchestia from the South China Sea to the Indonesian Archipelago (Crustacea, Senticaudata), Zootaxa 4319 (3), pp. 401-434 : 431-432

Talorchestia sp.

Talorchestia martensii .—Lyla, Velvihi & Ajmal Khan, 1998: 16, fig. 21.

Habitat. Estuarine (banks of marine zone) living below stranded algae and rotten pieces of wood ( Lyla et al. 1998).

Description. Based on Lyla, Velvihi & Ajmal Khan (1998): 16, fig. 21.

Head. Antenna 2 peduncular articles without marginal row of robust setae; article 3 without ventral plate or process.

Pereon. Gnathopod 1 coxa smaller than coxa 2; carpus longer than propodus; posterior margin of carpus and propodus with palmate lobes; anterior margin of propodus with 5 groups of robust setae.

Pleon. Epimera without slits above the ventral margins. Epimeron 3 with a small posteroventral tooth. Uropods 1–2 rami without apical spear-shaped setae. Uropod 1 peduncle with about 10 robust setae, distolateral robust seta small (less than 1/4 length of outer ramus); inner ramus subequal in length to outer ramus, with marginal robust setae in 1 row; outer ramus without marginal robust setae. Uropod 2 peduncle with 3–6 robust setae; inner ramus subequal in length to outer ramus, with 3–6 marginal robust setae in 2 rows; outer ramus with 3 marginal robust setae. Uropod 3 peduncle with 1 robust seta; ramus subequal to peduncle, not fused to peduncle, linear (narrowing), with about 6 marginal robust setae. Telson longer than broad; apically incised; dorsal midline vestigial or absent, with 7 setae per lobe.

Remarks. The identification of this taxon to the genus Talorchestia is problematic. Lyla et al. (1998) apparently had no males in their collection so the male secondary sexual characters, including the second gnathopod are not known. The left mandible and the maxilliped, all important characters for generic level identification, are also not known. Based on the above non-sexually dimorphic bolded characters the taxon appears to be in the genus Talorchestia .

Lyla et al. (1998) identified their specimen, from eastern India, as Talorchestia martensii ( Weber, 1892) . Their illustrated specimen differs from T. martensii of Miyamoto & Morino (1998) in the posteroventral corner of epimeron 3 which has a small subacute tooth.

The importance of the Lyla et al. (1998) record is that it establishes Talorchestia in India for the first time.

Distribution. India. Parangipettai coast, Eastern India ( Lyla et al. 1998).