Metatiron brevidactylus ( Pillai, 1957 )

Just, Jean, 2022, Tirons of the world: a review of ‘ tironid’ amphipods, description of new genera and species, and establishment of a new subfamily Tironinae Stebbing, 1906 stat. nov. (Crustacea, Synopiidae), Zootaxa 5139 (1), pp. 1-89 : 76

Metatiron brevidactylus ( Pillai, 1957)

Pseudotiron brevidactylus Pillai, 1957 , fig. VII.

Metatiron brevidactylus ( Pillai, 1957) .— Rabindranath 1972, p.84, fig. 1; Cadien 2014, p. 11.

Not Ledoyer (1979, fig. 86).

Tiron brevidactylus . —J.L. Barnard 1972, p. 85; Just 1981, tab. I.; Jazdzewski 1990, p. 16; Hirayama 1988, p.61.

Type fixation. Not known.

Type Material. Not seen.

Distribution. Travancore, southwestern most India.

Remarks. The 5 specimens from Madagascar reported as Metatiron brevidactylus by Ledoyer (1979) differ in many points from Pillai’s (1957) and Rabindranath’s (1972) descriptions. The specimens appear to belong in Minitiron on account of the strongly curved basis of gnathopod 1, but description and illustrations lack necessary additional evidence, e.g. the type of spine-setae on maxilla 1 outer plate. Hence, I do not feel the species is sufficiently well defined to propose a new name for it. It is removed to Minitiron sp. pending further studies.

Pillai (1957) and Rabindranath (1972) both mention that while males of Metatiron brevidactylus have a vestigial inner plate without setae on maxilla 1, females of the species have a more developed plate with a few terminal setae.