Politolana Bruce, 1981

Paiva, Ricardo J. C. & Souza-Filho, Jesser F., 2023, Three new species of the family Cirolanidae Dana, 1852 (Isopoda, Cymothoida) from the shallow Brazilian bathyal, Zootaxa 5319 (1), pp. 1-26 : 18

Genus Politolana Bruce, 1981

Bruce (1981): 958–959; Kensley & Schotte (1989): 140–143; Wetzer et al. (1987): 1–11; Riseman & Brusca (2002): 64.

Type species. Aega polita Stimpson (1853) ; by original designation.

Remarks. The genus Politolana has 13 species, which are distributed in the North Atlantic (seven species), South Atlantic (three species), and Pacific (three species). Riseman & Brusca (2002) reviewed the genus based on a phylogenetic analysis and demonstrated that it is polyphyletic, given that only nine of the 12 species analyzed formed a monophyletic clade, while the three Pacific species were identified as non- Politolana sensu strictu . Riseman & Brusca (2002) restrict Politolana sensu strictu to the Atlantic Ocean, where the majority of its diversity is found in the North Atlantic, in the region of the Gulf of Mexico. However, this arrangement requires careful reconsideration, in particular, the inclusion of other cirolanid genera, a more ample character matrix, and more comprehensive discussion and analysis, including a molecular approach, to better understand the phylogenic relationships among the species and related genera.