Paratanais vetinari Bamber, 2005

Błażewicz-Paszkowycz, M. & Bamber, R. N., 2012, The Shallow-water Tanaidacea (Arthropoda: Malacostraca: Peracarida) of the Bass Strait, Victoria, Australia (other than the Tanaidae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 69, pp. 1-235 : 95-98

Paratanais vetinari Bamber, 2005

Figures 63–64

Paratanais vetinari Bamber, 2005 , 712–716, figs 51–52.

Material examined. 1 (J58466), 5 (J56735), Stn 190, 81-T-1, Western Bass Strait, 50 km SSW of Warrnambool, Victoria, 38º49.5'S 142º35.4'E, 89 m depth, coarse sand, 21 November 1981, coll. R. S. Wilson. 1 (J56666), Stn WV 5, Cheviot Beach, Point Nepean, Victoria, 38º18'S 144º40'E, 3.5 to 5 m depth, 31 March 1998, SCUBA, coll. T, D. O’Hara. 1 (J56663), Stn BUN4, East of Eagles Nest , Victoria, 38º40.46'S 145º39.14'E, 5 to 11 m depth, 01 April 1997, SCUBA, coll. coll. T, D. O’Hara et al .. 1 (J46369), Stn WV 2, Schomberg Reef, near Peterborough, Victoria, 38º36.49'S 142º53.19'E, 3.5 to 5 m depth, 19 May 1998, SCUBA, coll. T, D. O’Hara. 3 (J51620), Stn VC 08 C1, Western Bass Strait , 38º14.36'S 142º10.11'E, 40 m depth, 14 May 1998, Smith-McIntyre Grab, coll. N. Coleman. 1

(J46370), Stn CRUST 21 , “The Whaleback”, bommie 0.5 km S of Point Hicks , 37º48.30'S 149º16.48'E, 13 m depth, 08 April 1989, SCUBA, coll. G.C.B. Poore. 1 (J56665), 1 (J56662), Stn WV 13, Sailor’s Grave, off East Cape Conran, Victoria , 37º48.13'S 148º44.41'E, 4 to 5 m depth, 15 April 1998, SCUBA, coll. T, D. O’Hara. 1 (J56664), Stn WV 8, Nepean Bay, Point Nepean, Victoria , 38º18.24'S 144º39.28'E, 5 to 6 m depth, 08 April 1998, SCUBA, coll. T. D. O’Hara. Numerous other lots in the collections of Museum Victoria .

Paratanais vetinari was described initially from Esperance, southern Western Australia, based on four females. The present females seem to agree with the type-description; the presence of the male in the Bass Strait material allows its first description.

Description of male. Body ( Fig. 63A, B) smaller and more compact than that of female, 1.8 mm long, 5 times as long as wide. Cephalothorax narrow in anterior half, 1.15 times as long as wide, longer than pereonites 1, 2 and 3 together, with conspicuous triangular rostrum; eyes present, large, pigmented. Six free dorsoventrally-flattened pereonites; pereonite 1 shortest, pereonites 2 just longer than pereonite 1, both short and with single anterolateral seta on each side; pereonites 3 to 6 subequal in length (all pereonites respectively 4.4, 3.7, 2.4, 2.4, 2.2 and 2.1 times as wide as long). Pleon laterally convex, with five free subequal pleonites bearing pleopods; pleonites 4.6 times as wide as long. Pleotelson semicircular, short, les than twice as long as pleonite 5, 2.2 times as wide as long.

Antennule ( Fig. 63C) peduncle of three articles, proximal article twice as long as wide, second article 0.6 times as long as wide, about one-third length of first, with inner simple seta longer than article width; third article half length of second with inner and outer distal setae; flagellum of seven segments, segments progressively longer distally, segments 1 to 6 with subdistal rows of 8 or 9 aesthetascs, distal segment with one penicillate and four simple distal setae.

Antenna ( Fig. 63D) of six articles, proximal article compact, naked; second article shorter than wide with single simple distal and mesial setae; third article as long as wide, about half as long as second article, naked; fourth article 1.25 times as long as second; fifth article longer than fourth, slender, tapering; sixth article minute with five distal setae.

Mouthparts largely atrophied; maxilla ( Fig. 63F) subtriangular, naked; maxilliped ( Fig. 63E) endites narrow, with single distal seta, basis with long distal seta, palp with simple setae much longer than those of female; epignath ( Fig. 63G) narrow, linguiform.

Cheliped ( Fig. 64A) similar to that of female, merus shorter, carpus 1.3 times as long as wide; propodus proportionately longer, fixed finger with triangular tooth-like apophysis proximally on cutting edge; dactylus with three simple setae on cutting edge.

Pereopods 1 to 3 ( Fig. 64B, C, D) similar to those of female, merus of pereopod 1 1.3 times as long as carpus, distal spines on carpi of pereopods 2 and 3 simple and more slender.

Pereopods 4 to 6 ( Fig. 64E, F, G) proximally similar to those of female, but propodus 6 times as long as wide with dense ventral fields of microtrichia, dactylus and unguis two-thirds as long as propodus, articulation between the two indistinct, dactylus with fields of microtrichia.

Pleopods ( Fig. 64H) all alike, similar to those of female but setae proportionately longer.

Uropod ( Fig. 64I) similar to but more elongate than that of female, distal exopod segment longer than proximal segment; proximal endopod segment with inner array of penicillate setae.

Remarks. Of the seven previously-described species of Paratanais from Australasia (including P. tanyherpes above), only P. vetinari and P. maleficus Larsen, 2001 have a two-segmented uropod exopod. Females of these two are most easily distinguished by the uropod segments being more than twice as long as wide in P. vetinari , but less than 1.5 times as long as wide in P. maleficus . Most features of the appendages of the male of P. maleficus as described and figured by Larsen (2001) are different from those shown here. Another characteristic feature of the present species is the subdistal ventral seta on the propodus of pereopods 2 and 3 being longer than the dactylus (shorter in P. maleficus ). The only other species described with a two-segmented uropod exopod is P. hessleri Kudinova-Pasternak, 1985 (q.v.), but, despite the relatively poor description, that species has the subdistal ventral propodus seta on pereopods 2 and 3 shorter than the dactylus, and it clearly has a more elongate body, antennules and antennae, inter alia.

The type-collection of Paratanais vetinari was from 20 to 30 m depth on gravelly sand with rhodoliths and sparse macroalgae. In the Bass Strait, this species was collected from between 3.5 and 89 m depth on sandy substrata, including sympatrically with P. malignus .