Araphura Bird & Holdich, 1984

BIRD, GRAHAM J., 2011, Paratanaoidean tanaidaceans (Crustacea: Peracarida) from littoral and shallow sublittoral habitats in New Zealand, with descriptions of three new genera and seven new species, Zootaxa 2891 (1), pp. 1-62 : 41-42

Araphura Bird & Holdich, 1984

Synonymy (restricted): Leptognathia Lilljeborg, 1864 [partim]: Bird & Holdich (1984): 13.

Araphura: Bird & Holdich (1984) : 13; Sieg & Dojiri (1989): 121; Larsen (2005): 218 -219).

Diagnosis. see Larsen (2005) or Larsen et al (2009)

Type species. Araphura brevimanus (Lilljeborg, 1864) .

Species included (Australasian): Araphura whakarakaia n. sp. Araphuroides , to accommodate two species formerly within Araphura . It is a fairly conservative taxon morphologically and species differences are seen mainly in details of the chelipeds, mandible molar and uropods. Only one species, Araphura extensa Larsen , does not easily fit in the genus and phylogenetic analyses following on from Bird & Larsen (2009) will resolve its affinities.

Although one species, Araphura io Bamber, 2005, has been described from the Australasian region, this has now been transferred to the sister genus Araphuroides (Larsen et al 2009: 3). Another deep-water species of Araphura from New Zealand will be described in a future paper by me.

Araphura is a taxon that presents a typical body form adapted to tubicoly or burrowing. Compared to the taxa reported on earlier in this paper ( Parakonarus , Atemtanais , and Paratanais ) it has, along with a more elongate body form, a streamlined cephalothorax-cheliped configuration where the cheliped bases hardly protrude ventrally, and which are more anteriorly attached via much larger coxal sclerites that ‘wrap around’ the posterioventral part of the cephalothorax.