Kapalana, Berents & Lowry, 2018

Berents, Penelope B. & Lowry, J. K., 2018, The New Crustacean Amphipod Genus Kapalana from Australian Waters (Senticaudata, Ischyroceridae, Ischyrocerinae, Cerapodini), Records of the Australian Museum 70 (4), pp. 391-421 : 393

Kapalana g. nov.

Type species. Kapalana durraween sp. nov., present designation.

Included species. Kapalana includes 8 species: K. amelga sp. nov.; K. durraween sp. nov.; K. flindersi ( Stebbing, 1888) comb. nov.; K. kimbla sp. nov.; K. maia sp. nov.; K. michaelmas sp. nov.; K. stebbingi sp. nov.; K. wadei sp. nov.

Etymology. Named for the retired New South Wales Fisheries vessel FRV Kapala , the source of many Australian Museum fish and invertebrate collections from 1971 to 1997. The name is feminine in gender.

Diagnostic description. Head with eyes present, rostrum long to very long. Antenna 1 without accessorY flagellum; peduncular article 1 not produced anterodistally and anteromedially into an opercular cap, posterior margin with strong subquadrate or acute posterior projection. Antennae 1–2 peduncular articles 1–3 covered in scales [except K. amelga , K. maia and K. flindersi ]. Gnathopod 2 carpochelate in male. Pereopod 5 propodus inserted on posterior concave side of carpus. Pereopods 5–7 directed posteriorly. Pereopods 6–7 similar, much longer than pereopod 5. Uropod 1, peduncle with distoventral fan of robust setae. Uropod 2–3 uniramous. Tubes of juveniles attached in a ring, circling the tube of adult female (not known for K. flindersi ).

Remarks. Kapalana has the strongest similarities to Runanga J. L. Barnard, 1961 , Cerapus and Paracerapus Budnikova, 1989 . Kapalana differs from these genera in having a projection on the posterior margin of the first article of antenna 1 and in Kapalana , the juveniles attach their initial tubes to the mother tube.

The species known as Cerapus flindersi Stebbing, 1888 is based on a female from Flinders Passage in Torres Strait, northern Queensland. It has never been re-collected and the tube is not known. The specimen is held in The Natural History Museum, London (BMNH 89.5.15.147) and consists of four microscope slides. Based on the morphology of antenna 1 peduncular article 1, we tentatively move it to the genus Kapalana .

Walker & Scott (1903) reported a female from Abd al Kuri, in the Gulf of Aden that they called Cerapus flindersi and Chilton (1892) reported a male Cerapus flindersi from Port Jackson, Australia, but in both cases the species identification is dubious. Walker & Scott’s specimen is poorlY illustrated. Chilton’s specimen lacks a projection on the posterior margin of the first article of antenna 1 and represents an undescribed species of Cerapus .