Galathella Barnard & Karaman 1987

Lowry, J. K. & Kilgallen, N. M., 2014, A generic review of the lysianassoid family Uristidae and descriptions of new taxa from Australian waters (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Uristidae), Zootaxa 3867 (1), pp. 1-92 : 28

Galathella Barnard & Karaman 1987

( Fig. 16 )

Galathella Barnard & Karaman 1987: 866 .— Barnard & Karaman 1991: 488.—Lowry & Stoddart, 1995: 12.— Lowry & Stoddart 2003: 281 (catalogue).

Type species. Schisturella galatheae Dahl, 1959 , original designation.

Included species. Galathella includes 5 species: G. bassiana Lowry & Stoddart, 1995 ; G. galatheae ( Dahl, 1959) ; G. latipes ( Ledoyer, 1986) ; G. palana Lowry & Stoddart, 1995 ; G. solivagus Kilgallen, 2009 .

Diagnostic description. Antenna 1 peduncle article 1 without anterodistal lobe; accessory flagellum with an elongate article 1 (at least twice as long as article 2) partially covering callynophore. Antenna 2 without brush setae. Mandible molar a reduced column with triturating surface. Maxilla 1 outer plate a well developed 7/4 crown. Maxilla 2 inner plate slightly shorter to significantly shorter than outer plate. Gnathopod 1 weakly to strongly subchelate or simple; coxa 1 reduced or large, shorter than coxa 2, tapering; ischium short (length less than 2 × breadth) or long (length more than 2 × breadth); carpus long to very long (greater than 2 × breadth); propodus margins tapering distally. Uropod 2 inner ramus not constricted. Telson moderately to deeply cleft.

Remarks. Galathella is the only uristid with gnathopod 1 coxa slightly shorter than coxa 2 and tapering distally, similar to Ventiella in which coxa 1 is more reduced and tapering. These genera differ mainly in maxilla 2 (inner plate longer than outer plate in Ventiella ) and in the cleftness of the telson (moderately to deeply in Galathella and notched in Ventiella ).

Distribution. South-western Pacific Ocean: Kermadec Trench. Eastern Australia. Western Indian Ocean.

Figures

FIGURE 16. Galathella galatheae (Dahl, 1959), holotype, female, 10.0 mm, ZMUC CRU-2082, from the Kermadec Trench, western South Pacific Ocean. EP3 after Dahl (1959). Scale bars: gnathopods, pereopods, 0.2 mm; remainder, 0.1 mm.