SCINOIDEA Bowman & Gruner, 1973

Zeidler, Wolfgang, 2012, A review of the hyperiidean amphipod families Mimonectidae and Proscinidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Hyperiidea: Scinoidea) 3533, Zootaxa 3533, pp. 1-74 : 6

Superfamily SCINOIDEA Bowman & Gruner, 1973

Diagnosis. Sexual dimorphism of pereon sometimes very pronounced (spherically bulging) in females of some species due to enlarged pereonites 1–4 (5). Pereon of males only marginally inflated, or slender. Eyes very small, or absent. Mandibles with narrow incisor; lacinia mobilis well-developed, or absent ( Scinidae ); palp absent, or reduced to one article ( Pseudomimonectes ). Maxilliped with inner lobes separate, or partly so, or completely fused ( Scina , Spinoscina ), or absent ( Acanthoscina , Ctenoscina ). Gnathopods simple, rarely with postero-distal excavation of propodus. Pereopods simple, rarely with retractile dactyls ( Microscinidae fam. nov.), or only P5–7 with retractile dactyls ( Mimoscinidae fam. nov.).

Four families: Scinidae , Mimonectidae , Mimoscinidae fam. nov. and Microscinidae fam. nov. ( Proscinidae excluded).

Remarks. The superfamily Scinoidea was proposed by Bowman and Gruner (1973) to replace the old subtribe name Sciniformata, proposed by Stephensen and Pirlot (1931) to encompass the families Archaeoscinidae , Mimonectidae , Proscinidae and Scinidae . Subsequently, Vinogradov et al. (1982) removed Archaeoscinidae from this group and proposed a new superfamily, Achaeoscinoidea, to accommodate it because it possessed characters not found in either of the then recognised superfamilies, Lanceoloidea and Scinoidea , in the infraorder Physosomata (see Zeidler 2006). Although the remaining families are united by a combination of several characters, as in the diagnosis above, it is a relatively morphologically diverse group, with some members sharing characters with the other two superfamilies in the infraorder.

It differs primarily from Archaeoscinidae and Lanceoloidea in that the mandibles lack a palp (except onearticulate in Pseudomimonectes but also absent in Chuneolidae ). However, some species exhibit the extreme sexual dimorphism found in mature females of Archaeoscina , and some species have pereopods with retractile dactyls as found in some Lanceoloidea .