CYLLOPODIDAE Bovallius, 1887

Zeidler, Wolfgang, 2003, A review of the hyperiidean amphipod superfamily Vibilioidea Bowman and Gruner, 1973 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Hyperiidea), Zootaxa 280 (1), pp. 1-104 : 81-82

Family CYLLOPODIDAE Bovallius, 1887

Diagnosis

Body length up to 26 mm, slightly compressed laterally, cuticle relatively thick and smooth. Head moderately large, as long as first 3–4 pereonites, almost globular. Eyes large, occupying most of head surface, adjoining dorsally. Pereonites all separate. Coxae separate from pereonites. Antennae 1 subequal in length to head, or slightly longer in males; peduncle short, 3­articulate; first flagellar article (callynophore) slender, conical, medial surface with two­field brush of aesthetascs, with, or without, two minute terminal articles. Antennae 2 inserted on ventral surface of head, just anterior to buccal mass; composed of 6–7 slender articles; longer than A 1 in males, subequal in length to A 1 in females. Mandibles with palp in both sexes, second article of palp broader and longer than third; molar process well­developed. Maxillae 1 with palp and well­developed outer lobe, inner lobe present as small oval process. Maxillae 2 with two small lobes, relatively small. Maxilliped with short, rounded inner lobe, about one­third as long as outer lobes. Gnathopod 1 simple, or weakly chelate. Gnathopod 2 chelate. Pereopods 5 & 6 the longest. Pereopod 7 reduced in size, with enlarged basis, longer than following articles combined; with only 3–5 articles in addition to basis. Uropods with articulated endopods and exopods. Telson very small, triangular. Gills on pereonites 2­6. Oostegites on pereonites 2­5.

One genus: Cyllopus .

Remarks

Prior to this review, Cyllopus was included in the family Vibiliidae . It is here placed in its own family on the basis of the positioning of the antennae, the presence of an anterior groove on the head to accommodate the mandibular palps, the large eyes, and the laterally compressed body. In body proportions it is most similar to Themisto (Hyperiidae) . Pereopods 3­6 are also somewhat prehensile, as in Themisto , but pereopod 7 bears some similarity to Vibilia .

Bovallius (1887a) proposed the family name Cyllopodidae for Cyllopus and Cyllias (= a genus of Platyscelidae ), but this name has not been in use for the last century (except for Spandl 1927 and Pirlot 1929), thus it is resurrected here for Cyllopus .