Poorea, Edgar, Graham J., 2012

Edgar, Graham J., 2012, New Leptocheliidae (Crustacea: Tanaidacea: Tanaidomorpha) from Australian seagrass and macro-algal habitats, and a redescription of the poorly-known Leptochelia ignota from Sydney Harbour, Zootaxa 3276, pp. 1-37 : 19

Genus Poorea n. gen.

Diagnosis. Female: Body about six times longer than wide. Cephalothorax longer than wide; compound eyes present; second thoracomere not demarcated from first. Pereonites 1–3 together shorter than pereonites 4–6. Antennule 4-articled, including small cap-like terminal article, article-1 about 3.3 times as long as wide, article-3 just shorter than article-2. Antenna 6-articled; article-1 lacking setae; article-2 with two spine-like processes; article-3 with single spine-like process. Maxillule palp with two terminal setae. Maxilliped bases with three distal setae; endites with single long seta, three distal spatulate spines and paired coupling hooks. Cheliped merus triangular with two ventral setae. Pereopod-1 unguis shorter than dactylus. Pereopods 2 and 3 with stout spines ventro-distal on merus; carpus half length of propodus; Pereopods 4–6 merus with paired ventro-distal spiniform setae; carpus with two spiniform setae; propodus with two distal spiniform setae; dactylus and unguis claw-like. Pleopod peduncle with inner plumose seta; endopod and exopod setal fringe entire. Uropod exopod with single article, half length of first endopod article; endopod with three articles.

Male: Body 6–8 times longer than broad. Cephalothorax longer than broad; compound eyes present. Pereonites 1–3 together shorter than pereonites 4–6. Antennule article-1 less than half length of cephalothorax, two to three times longer than wide; article-2 half to two-thirds length of article-1; flagellum with 5–7 articles, including small cap-like terminal article. Antenna 6-articled; basal article lacking setae; article-2 with three setae; article-3 with simple setae. Cheliped less than half body length, propodus width more than half length and set at right angle to main axis of cheliped. Uropod exopod with single article, endopod with three to six articles.

Type species. Poorea wrighti n. sp.

Gender: Male.

Etymology. The name recognises the lifetime studies of Gary Poore on the systematics of temperate Australian crustaceans.

Remarks. Species within the genus Leptochelia show a pronounced cline in the degree of attenuation of male characters (antennules, antennae, cheliped, pereopods, uropods), with Leptochelia gadgeti at the most elongate extreme and species belonging to the Leptochelia dubia complex relatively compact. Species now assigned to the genus Poorea comprise a homogeneous group located at the robust end of this cline, with compact antennules and chelipeds, in particular. Males are immediately distinguished from Leptochelia species by the compact cheliped propodus at right angles to the main cheliped axis. The genus includes three known species, Poorea wrighti n. sp., Poorea johannesi n. sp. and Leptochelia nobbi Bamber, 2005 , which is transferred here to Poorea as Poorea nobbi n. comb.