Anatanaini Sieg, 1980

Kong, Chim Chee, 2024, A synopsis of the Tanaidacea (Crustacea: Peracarida) of Singapore, with a review of tanaidacean diversity in Southeast Asia and the South China Sea, Zootaxa 5451 (1), pp. 1-75 : 41

Tribe Anatanaini Sieg, 1980

Genus Zeuxo Templeton, 1840

Remarks. The genus Zeuxo belongs to the tribe Anatanaini Sieg, 1980 , which is defined by the (1) pleonite-5 not being fused with the pleotelson; (2) labial palp not being as reduced; and (3) third pair of pleopods not being smaller than pleopods 1–2 ( Bird 2008). Distinguishing the three genera within Anatanaini is problematic due to the overlap of diagnostic characters ( Bamber 2008c; Bird 2008; Edgar 2008). Nevertheless, Anatanais Nordenstam, 1930 is generally characterised by its relatively short antennule article-1 that is about two times longer than article-2 ( Sieg 1980) while Zeuxoides Sieg 1980 can be differentiated by its relatively short terminal uropod article that is less than half length of the preceding article ( Edgar 2008). To date, Zeuxo is represented by 40 species ( Anderson 2023) that are widely distributed in shallow habitats (intertidal to 52 m depth) of the world’s oceans, except at the poles (Larsen 2014; Kakui & Shimada 2022). Zeuxo westwoodiana Templeton, 1840 from Mauritius is the type species of the genus. This increasingly species-rich genus Zeuxo is possibly polyphyletic ( Bird 2008), and the taxonomic difficulties associated with this taxon have been discussed extensively (Larsen 2014; Larsen et al. 2014; Bird 2019). Keys to identify Zeuxo species are available but only for a small number of species ( Sieg 1980; Edgar 2008; Wi et al. 2016).