Galathearcturus, Poore, 2013

Poore, Gary C. B., 2013, Rectarcturidae Poore, 2001 rediagnosed with descriptions of new Australian genera and species (Isopoda: Valvifera), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 70, pp. 17-36 : 19

Galathearcturus gen. nov.

Zoobank LSID. http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

E79071AD-6121-4517-A9AB-A325E25456BA

Type species. Galathearcturus antoniae sp. nov., by monotypy and original designation.

Diagnosis. Head with paired submedian tubercles, pereonites with smooth transverse ridges, anterior pleonites barely elevated. Antenna 1.5 times dorsal length of (head + pereonite 1); article 3 cuboid, as long as deep, without ventrolateral flange; article 4 subspherical, about as long as fused articles (1 + 2); article 5 cylindrical, 2.4 times as long as article 4, 5 times as long as wide. Pereopod 2 propodus palm convex, denticulate; (dactylus body + unguis) 3 times as long as propodus; unguis setiform, as long as dactylus body. Pereopod 3 similar to pereopod 2, unguis shorter. Male pleopod 1 exopod unknown. Oostegites 5 a pair of adjacent oval discs.

Etymology. From Galathea , the ship and expedition that collected the type species, and Arcturus , generic stem.

Composition. Type species only.

Distribution. Southern Qld, Australia.

Remarks. The sole species of Galathearcturus shares a short antenna and long pereopod 2 dactylus with the three species of Tasmarcturus , but differs in dorsal sculpture; this species is the least sculptured of all rectarcturid genera. Unfortunately, the male is unknown.