Linguimaera aff. leo, Krapp-Schickel, 2003

Krapp-Schickel, T., 2003, Linguimaera Pirlot, 1936 (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Melitidae), a valid genus, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 60 (2), pp. 257-283 : 276

Linguimaera aff. leo

Material examined: Numerous specimens in 18 NMV collections from eastern and central Bass Strait, 13–60 m depth, and Western Port , Victoria; sandy sediments .

Remarks. There are robust specimens of 10–15 mm in the first 10 metres of Port Phillip Bay, with oblique to nearly transverse gnathopod 2 palm in male, and robust ovigerous females with characteristically upwards twisted pereopods. Below 10 m down to about 45 m or even 60 m, in coarse sands or sandy shells of southern and eastern Bass Strait, there is a population of smaller and more delicate specimens, adult males with well developed penis papillae never reaching more than 8 mm, and ovigerous females of 6–7 mm. Their legs (especially gnathopod 1 male, pereopods 5–7 basis) are more slender, the setation on gnathopods 1, 2 basis or uropod 3 is richer and some distal robust setae are very long. But pereopods are mostly missing, robust setae are easily broken or setae lost, and there is no obvious and clearly reliable morphological difference to offer at the moment, to allow defining it as a separate species, and all differences found may also occur in less adult specimens of Linguimaera leo . But I mistrust that Linguimaera leo could have such a wide depth range, and also the ecology is quite different.