Maera othonides Walker, 1904

Krapp-Schickel, T., 2003, Linguimaera Pirlot, 1936 (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Melitidae), a valid genus, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 60 (2), pp. 257-283 : 258

Maera othonides Walker, 1904 species dubia

Maera othonides Walker, 1904: 273 , fig. 29

Remarks. The original description of this species from Ceylon is slim. One is required to examine illustrations of M. othonis (Milne Edwards) from Europe to make assumptions on characters Walker did not describe other than by “similar to M. othonis . ” He reported a length of 8 mm, article 3 mandibular palp “considerably shorter” than article 2, antenna 1 accessory flagellum with 3 articles, the third pleon segment with no teeth on its lower and 1–3 teeth on the posterior margin, third uropods truncate, telsonic lobes distally incised having one short robust seta sitting there, and a second notch on the inside of the lobe. This description would fit many species of the old Maera flock. Another species within this geographical distribution is Linguimaera mannarensis but we cannot check the suspicion that the two are the same.

Indian material cited under the same name by Chilton (1921: 535, fig. 5; no body length) could well be the same as that of K.H. Barnard (1935: 285, fig. 5; adults 11 mm) or of Nayar (1959: 26, pl. 8 figs 1–18; up to 12 mm) and is certainly not the species from Ceylon. In this, the antenna 1 accessory flagellum is up to 5 articles, the gnathopod 2 of the female has the palm slightly convex and of the male regularly excavated; the epimeral plate 3 is serrate on the posterior (and inferior) margins; uropod 3 and the posterior portion of the pleon are densely beset with delicate woolly setae; the telson is cleft halfway and its lobes distally pointed, with one long setule and two smaller ones, and no notch on inner margin. The characters of the mandibular palp (article 3 short, although much shorter still than in all Linguimaera species here described), the serrate posterior epimeral plate 3, and the lanceolate uropod 3 would match the definition of Linguimaera . But all three authors reported a “pubescent” pleon, densely setose uropod 3 and (only Nayar) pleon segments serrate along the posterodorsal margins of the segments. As already surmised by Krapp-Schickel (2000: 432), the citations of Chilton, K.H. Barnard and Nayar are synonyms of Ceradomaera plumosa Ledoyer, 1973 and not Maera othonides Walker. That species, according to Walker (1904) was “very common” in Sri Lanka. Nor is their material referable to Pirlot’s species, Linguimaera pirloti sp. nov. For the time being, Maera othonides Walker must remain species dubia.

Distribution. Sri Lanka.