Expanathura ardea (Poore & Kensley)

Poore, Gary C. B., Lew, Helen M. & Ton, 2002, Expanathuridae (Crustacea: Isopoda) from the Australian region, Zootaxa 82, pp. 1-60 : 24-25

Expanathura ardea (Poore & Kensley) (Fig. 15)

Coralanthura ardea Poore & Kensley, 1981: 507 –510, figs 3, 4.

Panathura ardea .— Kensley & Poore, 1982: 633 –634, fig. 8.

Expanathura ardea .— Negoescu & Wägele, 1984: 103, 118.— Poore, 2001: 124.

Material examined.– Australia. Queen­

sland, Heron I. (23°27'S, 151°55'E),

various locations, 0–7 m, N.L. Bruce,

Dec 1979 QM W8757 (5 juveniles);

W8752 (1 male, 10 juveniles); W16292

(1 male, 3.0 mm; 1 juvenile, 4.1 mm, 1

slide); W8753 females, 1 juvenile, 1

slide); W8761 (2 females, 7 juveniles);

W16293 (2 juveniles). New Caledonia,

Mbere Reef, outer slope (22°1.89'S,

166°13.21'E), 30 m, rubble, airlift, P.

Bouchet, 7 Jan 1993, NMV J29978 (1).

Distribution: Australia, Western

Australia (Houtman Abrolhos Is);

Queensland, southern Great Barrier

Reef (Heron I.); New Caledonia; coral

rubble, 0–30 m depth.

Remarks: This species is clearly

very different from Coralanthura

endeavourae , a genus and species

described in the same paper by Poore &

Kensley (1981). Their only similarities

are quite superficial; mouthparts, pere­

opods and pleopods are quite different

( Kensley & Poore, 1982).

The species is most similar to E.

amstelodami from which it differs in

shorter endopod of pleopod 1, narrower

telson and broader propodi on pereo­

pods 1 and 2. New material enables the

habitus and male pleopods 1 and 2 to be

figured for the first time, and flagellum

of antenna 1 to be drawn more accu­

rately than in the original description. FIGURE 15. Expanathura ardea (Poore & Ken­ New material extends the distribution sley, 1981). Juvenile, 4.1 mm, QM W16292. Pleopods 1, 2 from male, 3.0 mm, QM W16292.

of the species to New Caledonia. Scale bar = 1 mm