Ericthonius Milne Edwards, 1830

Just, Jean, 2009, Ischyroceridae *, Zootaxa 2260 (1), pp. 463-486 : 475

Ericthonius Milne Edwards, 1830

Remarks. Species of Ericthonius have only recently been reported from Australia. Eight species are now known from around this continent (one more than from the North Atlantic ( Myers & McGrath 1984)): E. brevicarpus Vader & Myers, 1996 ; E. coxacanthus Moore, 1988 ; E. forbesii Hughes & Lowry, 2006 ; E. parabrasiliensis sp. nov.; E. pugnax Dana, 1852 ; E. rodneyi Hughes & Lowry, 2006 ; E. tacitus Moore,1988 ; and E. tropicalis sp. nov. All eight species are found along the east coast of Australia from Tasmania to Lizard Island in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef. Two of the species, E. pugnax and E. coxacanthus , are also reported from Western Australia.

All species from Lizard Island, and indeed all species from Australia, belong to the main Group 1 of Ericthonius defined by Myers & McGrath (1984) as having stridulating ridges on coxa 2 in males; coxa 2 widely separated from 1 and 3; and male gnathopod 2 carpus with two posterodistal teeth. Within Ericthonius Group 1 a subgroup can be discerned: species with a row of robust setae along the posterior margin of the male gnathopod 2 carpus proximal to the distal teeth, as opposed to species with slender setae only. In Australia, species with robust setae are E. coxacanthus , E. tacitus and E. tropicalis sp. nov. The only other known species belonging in this subgroup is E. ledoyeri Barnard & Karaman, 1991 from Madagascar and Mauritius. None of the Atlantic Group 1 species has such robust setae, and the subgroup thus appears to be confined to the Indo-West? Pacific.