Taxon classification Animalia Amphipoda Stenothoidae

Stenothoe miersii (Haswell, 1879) Figures 6, 7

Montagua Miersii Haswell, 1879: 323, pl. 24, fig. 4.

Montagua longicornis Haswell, 1879: 323, pl. 24, fig. 5.

Stenothoe miersi . - Stebbing 1906: 200 (in part). - Stebbing 1910: 637 (in part). Lowry and Stoddart 2003: 260. - Krapp-Schickel 2009: 873-875.

Stenothoe? miersii . - J.L. Barnard 1974: 120, figs 75-76.

Stenothoe valida . - Sheard 1937: 21 (= Stenothoe miersii, but confused with other species).

not Montaguana miersii . - Chilton 1883: 79 (part = Stenothoe moe, J.L Barnard 1972).

not Montagua miersii . - Chilton 1884: 1043 (part = Stenothoe moe, J.L Barnard 1972).

not Probolium miersii . - Thomson and Chilton 1886: 150 (= Stenothoe valida).

Type locality.

Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia.

Material examined.

1 spec. from Bermagui (400 km S of Port Jackson, Australia), 8/6/1989, Wim Vader collected on a hermit crab in shallow water. Stored at the Australian Museum (AM xxx) Sydney.

Remarks.

In Haswell (1879) two species of Montagua were described from Port Jackson, Sydney: Montagua miersii, directly followed by Montagua longicornis . It appears that the first was the female, the latter the male of the same species, belonging to Stenothoe . J.L. Barnard (1974) described four species of Stenothoe from Australia. One of these he called Stenothoe? miersi, doubting about the synonymy, as no type material is available. Barnard‘s description matches the different populations around most of the Australian coastline, also the Lizard Island specimens (Krapp-Schickel 2009: 873-875), and again the illustrations given here of a female.

Ecology.

It may well be that this specimen lived among the encrusting hydroids and bryozoans growing on top of the hermit-crab-shell and thus had no direct association with the crab; it was the only Stenothoe specimen found among many hermit crabs.