Family CALLIANASSIDAE Dana, 1852

Callianassa australiensis

© Copyright Holthuis 1991: 441

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Regional Maps

• Callianassidae Dana, J.D. 1852. Conspectus Crustaceorum quae in Orbis Terrarum circumnavigatione, Carolo Wilkes e classe Reipublicae Foederatae Duce, lexit et descripsit. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 6: 10-28 [12, 14] [name placed on the Official List of Family Names in Zoology, see International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1956. Opinion 434. Use of the Plenary Powers to secure that the name Upegebia [Leach], [1814], and Processa Leach, [1815], shall be the oldest names for the genera in question and that the family-group names based on these generic names shall be the oldest available names for the family-group taxa concerned. Opinions and Declarations rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 14: 403–424].

  Secondary source:

   International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1956. Opinion 434. Use of the Plenary Powers to secure that the name Upegebia [Leach], [1814], and Processa Leach, [1815], shall be the oldest names for the genera in question and that the family-group names based on these generic names shall be the oldest available names for the family-group taxa concerned. Opinions and Declarations rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 14: 403-424.

Introduction

The first major modern work dealing with callianassids in Australia was that of Poore & Griffin (1979), and this was the springboard for several other useful papers including those of Sakai (1984, 1988) and Ngoc-Ho (1994). Poore (1994) provided a key to genera.

Trypaea Dana, 1852, is retained here for the well-known eastern Australian 'Ghost Nipper' (T. australiensis Dana, 1852), following its usage by Manning & Felder (1991). Sakai (1999) placed it back into synonymy of Callianassa, but G. Poore (in litt.) still considers Trypaea to be distinctive at the generic level.

Manning & Felder (1991) divided the Callianassidae into four subfamilies: Callianassinae Dana, 1852, Cheraminae Manning & Felder, 1991, Callichirinae Manning & Felder, 1991, and Eucalliinae Manning & Felder, 1991. To these have been added the Anacalliacinae Manning & Felder, 1991 (originally described as a subfamily of the Ctenochelidae, but later moved into the Callianassidae by Poore (1994)), and the Calliapaguropinae Sakai, 1999. Recently, Callichirinae and Cheraminae were placed into synonymy with Callianassinae by Sakai (1999). It is not clear that a final consensus on subfamily definitions has emerged, and as there are relatively few genera in Australian waters, they are not here allocated to subfamilies. Sakai (1999) should be consulted for the latest interpretation, and for more extensive citations to earlier work on Callianassidae. Tudge et al. (2000) did not agree with the changes proposed by Sakai (1999), but the generic placement of many species, especially species of Callianassa, remains uncertain.

Diagnosis

Reptant decapods without a thelycum in the female; with pereiopods 1–5 having basis and ischium fused. Pereiopod 1 chelate, carpus-propodus articulation slight; unequal or equal; merus with straight or toothed lower margin; pereiopod 2 chelate, always with dense row of long setae on lower margin; pereiopod 3 simple, propodus without distal spiniform seta on lower margin, with proximal heel on lower margin; pereiopod 4 simple or subchelate, coxa flattened, mobile; pereiopod 5 chelate or subchelate, without arthrobranch on thoracomere 1; pereiopods 2–4 sometimes with setal-rows. Thoracic sternite 7 narrow. Posterior margin of carapace evenly curved, rarely with cardiac prominence; with or without lateral lobes; linea thalassinica present, complete, lateral to antennae; cervical groove complete, linea anomurica and transverse cardiac line rarely present; rostrum obsolete or a spike; eyestalks flattened, rarely cylindrical; antenna 1 with article 3 as long as or longer than article 2; maxilla 2 scaphognathite without long seta on posterior margin; gill elements paired; pleurobranchiae absent; abdominal somite 1 without anterolateral lobes; weakly chitinised; pleuron weak; pleopods with or without appendix interna, reduced if present; pleopod 2 different from pleopods 3–5, sexually modified; pleopods 3–5 with broad interacting rami; endopod with appendices internae in both sexes; uropodal exopod with thickened anterodorsal setose margin. Abdominal somites 1–2 different in shape from 3–5; only somite 6 with setal-rows. (After Poore 1994; Sakai 1999).

General References

Dana, J.D. 1852. Conspectus Crustaceorum quae in Orbis Terrarum circumnavigatione, Carolo Wilkes e classe Reipublicae Foederatae Duce, lexit et descripsit. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 6: 10-28

Manning, R.B. & Felder, D.L. 1991. Revision of the American Callianassidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Thalassinidea). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 104(4): 764-792

Ngoc-Ho, N. 1994. Some Callianassidae and Upogebiidae from Australia with descriptions of four new species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Thalassinidea). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 54: 51-78

Poore, G.C.B. 1994. A phylogeny of the families of Thalassinidea (Crustacea: Decapoda) with keys to families and genera. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 54: 79-120

Poore, G.C.B., Dworschak, P.C., Robles, R. Mantelatto, F.L. & Felder, D.L 2019. A new classification of Callianassidae and related families (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea) derived from a molecular phylogeny with morphological support. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 78: 73-146 [82, Figures 6–11]

Poore, G.C.B. & Griffin, D.J.G. 1979. The Thalassinidea (Crustacea: Decapoda) of Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 32(6): 217-321

Sakai, K. 1984. Some Thalassinideans (Decapoda: Crustacea) from Heron Is., Queensland, Eastern Australia, and a new species of Gourretia from East Africa. The Beagle. Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences 1(11): 95-108

Sakai, K. 1988. A new genus and five new species of Callianassidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Thalassinidea) from Northern Australia. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 5(1): 51-69

Sakai, K. 1999. Synopsis of the family Callianassidae, with keys to subfamilies, genera and species, and the description of new taxa (Crustacea: Decapoda: Thalassinidea). Zoologische Verhandelingen (Leiden) 326: 1-152

Tudge, C.C., Poore, G.C.B. & Lemaitre, R. 2000. Preliminary phylogenetic analysis of generic relationships within the Callianassidae and Ctenochelidae (Decapoda: Thalassinidea: Callianassoidea). Journal of Crustacean Biology 20: 129-149

History of changes