Family LYSIOSQUILLIDAE Giesbrecht, 1910

Museums

Regional Maps

• Lysiosquillinae Giesbrecht, W 1910. Stomatopoden, Erste Theil. Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel, Monographie 33: 1-239 pls 1-11 [148].

  Type genus:

   Lysiosquilla Dana, 1852.

Introduction

This family comprises three genera, Lysiosquilla Dana, 1852, Lysiosquillina Manning, 1995, and Lysiosquilloides Manning, 1977, all of which are 'spearers'. Lysiosquillids feed primarily on fish and live in monogamous pairs in burrows on coral reefs, and in intertidal and subtidal sand and mudflats. All three lysiosquillid genera are represented in Australian waters and can be identified using the key provided by Ahyong (2001).

Diagnosis

Cornea strongly bilobed, set obliquely on stalk; typically with six rows of hexagonal ommatidia in the mid-band. Antennal protopod with one mesial and two ventral papillae. Third and fourth maxillipeds with propodi ribbed or beaded ventrally. Abdominal segments depressed, loosely articulated. Raptorial claw with ischiomeral articulation terminal, dactylus uninflated basally. Pereiopods 1–3 with slender or ovate endopods. Telson lacking distinct median carina; primary teeth fused into margin, presenting at most appearance of short projections. Uropodal protopod with at most two primary spines; dorsal margin of uropodal endopod lacking strong dorsal proximal fold; exopod segments articulate terminally.

General References

Ahyong, S.T. 2001. Revision of the Australian Stomatopod Crustacea. Records of the Australian Museum Suppl. 26: 1-326

History of changes