Jassa spinipes ( Johnston, 1829 )

Conlan, Kathleen E., Desiderato, Andrea & Beermann, Jan, 2021, Jassa (Crustacea: Amphipoda): a new morphological and molecular assessment of the genus, Zootaxa 4939 (1), pp. 1-191 : 161

Jassa spinipes ( Johnston, 1829)

Named Gammarus spinipes by Johnston (1829), this British species was “...found among Sertulariae taken from a fishing boat, so that it probably inhabits deep water.ʺNo further locality information was given. Johnston described the second gnathopod: “...the palm much dilated, armed with a single claw, and beneath with a conical spine, much like a claw. Between these there is a triangular process.” In his remarks, Johnston stated that “I cannot refer it to any described species. It surely cannot be the Jassa pulchella of Dr. Leach.” This is because, “...in Jassa pulchella the inferior antennae are the longest, and are said to be leg-shaped, a form which those of Gamm. spinipes have not, if Ihave a correct idea of what is meant by that term.” Johnston (1829) provided no illustrations for his new species description and the whereabouts of his type is unknown. This comparison of G. spinipes to J. pulchella is perhaps the reason why it appears in WoRMS as J. spinipes .

In their comprehensive publications on the British Amphipoda, Bate (1862) and Bate & Westwood (1863, 1868) did not mention a species named spinipes , either of the genera Gammarus , Podocerus or Jassa . Stebbing (1906) mentioned G. spinipes in his addendum, only giving the reference for Johnston (1829). Lincoln (1979) did not mention either G. spinipes or J. spinipes in his updated treatment of the British Amphipoda . The reason for the transfer of G. spinipes to Jassa is not given in WoRMS and appears to be unjustified, given Johnston’s short description and lack of a type.