Neotenorchestia, Wildish, 2014

Wildish, David J., 2014, New genus and two new species of driftwood hoppers (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Talitridae) from northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal regions, Zoosystematics and Evolution 90 (2), pp. 133-146 : 137

Taxon classification Animalia Amphipoda Talitridae

Neotenorchestia gen. n.

Neotenorchestia : Wildish et al. 2012; Pavesi et al. (2014), as unknown taxon.

Type species.

Neotenorchestia kenwildishi gen. sp. n. n.

Component species.

Monotypic.

Diagnosis.

As in Orchestia and specifically similar to Orchestia mediterranea A. Costa 1853 except for:

- lack of dorsal pigment patterns (versus dorsal pigment patterns in Orchestia mediterranea as in Wildish, 1987).

- smaller size by neoteny (largest total body length estimated to be 12 to16 mm, versus up to 20 mm in Orchestia mediterranea )

Very similar to Orchestia mediterranea A. Costa 1853 and if characterization is limited to conventional morphological methods this species can easily be misidentified as a juvenile O. mediterranea. The use of relative growth methods and regression fitting predictions as found in Pavesi et al. (2014, see Table 3) are required for definitive identification.

Etymology.

Refers to the origin of the new genus by a form of neoteny and combination of the stem of this word with the genus Orchestia to which it is closely related.