Colubotelson Nicholls, 1944

Wilson, George D. F., 2012, Two new species of Colubotelson Nicholls, 1944 in Tasmania's Lake Pedder: persistence of Phreatoicidae (Crustacea, Isopoda) in therein, Zootaxa 3406, pp. 1-29 : 3

Colubotelson Nicholls, 1944

Colubotelson Nicholls, 1944:108 . — Poore et al., 2002:72.

Type species. Phreatoicus joyneri Nicholls, 1926 by original designation.

Diagnosis. Phreatoicidae with well developed, fully sessile eyes. Pleotelson dorsal surface in lateral view with ventral inflection at posterior apex, with distinct dorsal inflection proximal to posterior apex; ventral margin anterior to uropods with distally denticulate robust setae medial to ventral row; posterolateral margin forming rounded lobe with robust setae; posterior apex long (length 0.120–0.295 pleotelson length in lateral view), with 2 pairs of robust setae. Right lacinia mobilis indistinctly separated from remainder of spine row. Pereopods V–VII basis dorsal ridge not distinctly separated from basis shaft. Pleopod endopods I–V without setae on margins; Pleopod I exopod lateral margin rounded. Uropod protopod dorsomedial ridge produced, forming bump.

Remarks. Although several non-taxonomic works considered Colubotelson to be a junior synonym of Uramphisopus Nicholls, 1943 , the two genera are easily separated because the latter has a large distinctive plate on the uropodal protopod, and the former has only a small bump-like projection. Colubotelson , however, differs from Metaphreatoicus Nicholls, 1944 by only a few characters such as the rounded lateral margin of pleopod I exopod in the Colubotelson , which is broadly angular in Metaphreatoicus . The classification of Colubotelson and related genera is further complicated by the generic type species from Victoria and New South Wales possibly being a clade distinct from the Tasmanian species of both genera. Resolution of these issues is beyond the scope of this work.