Chuneola Woltereck, 1909

Zeidler, Wolfgang, 2009, A review of the hyperiidean amphipod superfamily Lanceoloidea Bowman & Gruner, 1973 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Hyperiidea), Zootaxa 2000, pp. 1-117 : 81

Genus Chuneola Woltereck, 1909

Chuneola Woltereck, 1909: 152 . Bowman & Gruner 1973: 19. Vinogradov et al. 1982: 91–92.

Type species. Chuneola paradoxa Woltereck, 1909 by monotypy. The unique type, a juvenile measuring just less than 7 mm (judging by Woltereck’s drawing) could not be found in any major European museum and is considered lost. Fortunately, this is a very distinctive species readily distinguished by Woltereck’s description and figure. The type locality is the Indian Ocean [06°38.5’S 70° 58° 1’E]; Valdivia Stn. 225.

Diagnosis. As with the characters of the family.

Three species.

Sexual dimorphism. Sexual dimorphism is not very marked in Chuneola . Apart from the fact that females have oostegites and males have small genital papillae the main difference seems to be that females have a slightly more inflated pereon.

Remarks. This is a very distinctive genus, unlike any other in the superfamily. Unusual characters of note are the relatively large mouthparts, the lack of a mandibular palp and molar, the relatively shorter first antennae with only two small articles terminal to the callynophore, the reduced second antennae, the partly retractile dactyls of the gnathopods and the spoon-shaped formation and retractile dactyls of pereopods 3 & 4. The structure of the mouthparts provides a link to the Scinoidea but most of the other characters are more aligned with the Lanceoloidea .