Melita Leach, 1814

Springthorpe, Roger T., 2023, Melita lowryi, a New Species of Melitidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Senticaudata) from New Zealand, and the Redescription of Melita festiva (Chilton, 1885) from Australia, Records of the Australian Museum (Rec. Aust. Mus.) 75 (4), pp. 547-558 : 548

Melita Leach, 1814

Melita Leach, 1814: 403 .— Sars, 1895: 507 (part).— Stebbing, 1906: 421 (part).— Chevreux & Fage, 1925: 227 (part).— Gurjanova, 1951: 746 (part).— Karaman, 1981: 41.—Barnard J. L., 1969: 245 (part).— Bousfield, 1973: 64.— Barnard & Barnard, 1983: 663–666 (part).— Jarret & Bousfield, 1996: 51.— Labay, 2016: 47 .

Caliniphargus Stout, 1913: 640 .

Megamoera Bate, 1862: 224 (part).

Type species. Cancer palmatus Montagu, 1804 .

Diagnosis. (Modified from Jarret & Bousfield, 1996 and Labay, 2016). Head, with antero-ventral notch or slit, anterior and posterior lobes rounded. Pleonite segments usually lacking dorsal teeth. Urosomite 1 with or without dorsal mid-line spine. Urosomite 2 with paired dorsal spines and/ or robust setae in 2 groups. Mandible left lacinia mobilis 4-dentate; palp well developed, 3-articulate, articles 2 and 3 with terminal and marginal setae. Maxilla 1, inner plate sub rectangular, elongate, with truncate or rounded distal margin, with apical setae, outer plate with 9 apical robust setae. Maxilla 2, inner plate with distal marginal setae, oblique setal row absent. Maxilliped plates strong; palp article 2 sublinear; article 3 bilobed; dactyl stout, curved. Gnathopod 1, sexually dimorphic or not, subchelate. Gnathopod 2 sexually dimorphic, subchelate; pereopod 6 coxa sexually dimorphic. Epimeron 3, hind corner moderately produced, acute or with small tooth, ventral margin smooth or weakly serrate. Uropod 1, peduncle with basofacial robust seta; Uropod 3, inner ramus scale-like; outer ramus, much longer than peduncle, 1 or 2-articulate, article 2 short. Telson deeply cleft, lobes terminally subacute, each with 2–3 robust setae.

Remarks. According to Labay (2016) and Horton et al. (2022) there are currently 57 species in the genus Melita . This paper reinstates one species and adds one new species to bring the total to 59 species. Further investigation of poorly described historical species of Melita is required to resolve some taxonomic issues but is outside the scope of this work.