Archaeocuma Băcescu, 1972

Gerken, Sarah, 2018, The Lampropidae (Crustacea: Cumacea) of the World, Zootaxa 4428 (1), pp. 1-192 : 24

Archaeocuma Băcescu, 1972

Archaeocuma Băcescu, 1972: 241 .

Type species. Archaeocuma peruana Băcescu, 1972 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Carapace dorsoventrally flattened, marginal carina present, eyelobe present, pseudorostral lobes short, blunt. Antennule flagella well developed, accessory flagellum at least 0.5 length of main flagellum. Mandible navicular. Maxillule palp with 2 setae. Pereopod 1 slender. Pereopod 5 shorter than pereopod 4 basis. Telson long, at least 2/3 length of uropod peduncles. Uropod endopod of 3 articles. Uropod exopod article 1 0.2 length of article 2, or less. Female with fully developed exopod on pereopod 2, rudimentary exopods on pereopods 3–4, with 1 pair of pleopods. Male with short antenna, not extending to end of pereon, first 3 articles of flagellum each with stout single seta, penial lobes present, with 1 pair of pleopods.

Species. Archaeocuma peruana Băcescu, 1972 .

Remarks. At the time of the initial description, no other cumaceans were known with penial lobes in the male or pleopods in the female, so Băcescu (1972) considered these characters so significant that despite the obvious affinities with the Lampropidae (flattened carapace, 3 terminal setae on the telson, large telson), a new family was necessary. However, species in the Lampropidae , Nannastacidae , and Leuconidae have now been described with penial lobes ( Campylaspenis,Chalarostlyis , Eudorellopsis , Phallolamprops , Phallolampropoides , Phalloleucon , Watlingia ), and in this work two new lampropid genera are described with pleopods in the female ( Pseudoarchaeocuma , Doieolamprops ). Therefore, it is now clear that the presence of penial lobes in the male and pleopods in the female are not unique characters, although the combination is unique.