Family APSEUDIDAE Leach, 1814

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

The family is found throughout the world from coastal to deep-sea environments. Over 110 species in 26 genera are known. Most species belong to the genus Apseudes. As pointed out by Sieg (1984) the family is most probably paraphyletic. On the basis of leg morphology the species and genera may be arranged into at least three groups, one of which we treat separately as Parapseudidae Gutu, 1981 (for taxonomic details see Sieg 1986: 11–12). Gutu (1981) divided the family into two subfamilies. With the subfamily Leviapseudinae Sieg, 1983 (=Leiopinae Lang, 1970) we have, in the past, included in the Whiteleggiidae. As current studies (e.g. Gutu 2006) include the Leviapseudinae as a subfamily of the Apseudidae, we have ammended our classification to reflect this. Gutu (1996) provided a key to genera.

Diagnosis

Pleon with 5 pleonites. Mandibular palp 3–articled. Maxilla 1 with palp. Epignath of maxilliped broad, cup-shaped. Inner caudodistal seta of maxillipedal endite not transformed into leaf-shaped spine. Pereopod 1 never uniform (not ambulatory), stronger than others, adapted for digging (fossorial). Pereopods 2–3 also often more or less fossorial, sometimes ambulatory. Dactylus not transformed into an aesthetasc-like structure.

General References

Gutu, M. 1981. A new contribution to the systematics and phylogeny ofthe suborder Monokonophora (Crustacea, Tanaidacea). Travaux du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle "Grigore Antipa" 23: 81-108

Gutu, M. 1996. The synoptic table and key to the superspecific taxa of recent Apseudomorpha (Crustacea, Tanaidacea). Travaux du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle "Grigore Antipa" 36: 135-146

Guţu, M. 2006. New Apseudomorph Taxa of the World Ocean: Crustacea, Tanaidacea. Bucharest, Romania : Curtea Veche 318 pp.

Gutu, M. & Sieg, J. 1999. Ordre des tanaïdacés (Tanaidacea Hansen, 1895). pp. 353-389 in Forest, J. Traité de Zoologie. Anatomie, systématique, biologie … Tome 7 Crustacés. Fascicule 3A Péracarides. Mémoires de l'Institut Océanographique, Monaco 19: 1-450

Larsen, K. 2005. Deep-Sea Tanaidacea (Peracarida) from the Gulf of Mexico. Leiden : Brill 381 pp.

Leach, W.E. 1814. Crustaceology. pp. 383-437 in Brewster, D. Sir (ed.). The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. Edinburgh : John Murray Baldwin & Cradocle Vol. 7 (2).

Sieg, J. 1984. Neuere Erkenntnisse zum natürlichen System der Tanaidacea. Eine phylogenetische Studie. Zoologica (Stuttgart) 136: 1-132

Sieg, J. 1986. Crustacea Tanaidacea of the Antarctic and Subantarctic 1. On material collected at Tierra del Fuego, Isla de los Estados, and the West Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Research Series 45: 1-180

History of changes