Tatahipeke kirki (Hurley, 1956) comb. nov.

(Fig. 69)

? Talorchestia tumida .— Young, 1929: 155.

Talorchestia kirki Hurley, 1956: 371, figs. 71–80.

Bellorchestia kirki .— Serejo & Lowry, 2008: 169.

Types. See comment in Materials and methods. None designated.

Type locality. Chatham Islands, New Zealand .

Size. Male body size unknown (not stated in Hurley 1956), female, 14 mm.

Remarks. Tatahipeke kirki is poorly described taxon. The condition of the gnathopod 1 palmate lobes, gnathopod 2 chelation, uropods and telson are not described or illustrated. Hurley (1956) indicates that pereopods 6 and 7 are not sexually dimorphic. With limited details from the original description, this placement of T. kirki within the genus Tatakipeke gen. nov. is based on Hurley’s (1956) statement that T. kirki has few morphological characters separating it for Tatahipeke tumida (Stebbing, 1887) comb. nov. Recorded only from the Chatham Islands, an isolated island group 850 km east of mainland New Zealand, were it not for the considerable geographic distance between these species they could be considered synonymous.

This relationship contrasts with another pair of closely aligned Chatham Island and New Zealand mainland species pair, Aotearorchestia chathamensis (Hurley, 1956) comb. nov. and A. telluris (Spence Bate, 1862) comb. nov. which are morphological close yet readily distinguishable (see remarks for A. chathamensis).

Habitat. S upralittoral (McIntyre, unpublished MSS.)

Distribution. New Zealand. Chatham Islands: Okawa Beach (Young 1929; Hurley 1956).