Order MYSIDA Boas, 1883

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Order MYSIDA Boas, 1883

Compiler and date details

2022 - Genefor Walker-Smith, Lauren Timms - Museum Victoria

2005 - Stephen J. Keable, Gwen E. Fenton & James K. Lowry

2002, 2003 - James K. Lowry & Gary C.B. Poore

Introduction

Members of the Mysida are shrimp-like crustaceans related to the Lophogastrida. They have more varied life-styles than lophogastridans and are usually less than 80 mm in length. About 1000 species are known throughout the world's oceans. They have been catalogued by Müller (1993). Previously a suborder of Mysidacea, it has been elevated to Order.

Synopsis of Australian Mysida Taxonomy

Mysids, previosuly Mysidaceans (commonly known as opossum shrimps), range in size from about 2 mm to 800 mm. They are usually pelagic or demersal, but some intertidal species are sand burrowers. Mysids are mainly omnivorous suspension-feeders, but some species are predators on zooplankton, and some are scavengers. There are no parasitic forms. Mysids may be found in large swarms and are important as food for fish. There are more than 1025 described species of mysids in about 163 genera (Meland 2002). The latest world catalogues for this group are those of Müller (1993) and Price et al. (2001). Meland (2002) provides an interactive key to world families, subfamilies and tribes.

The first recorded Australian mysids were three new species from Port Phillip Bay described by Sars (1885). The next report (Zimmer 1918) was a species of Anisomysis also from Port Phillip Bay. The Danish worker, H.J. Hansen (1910, 1912) described 23 species mainly from Indonesian waters, which were later reported, mainly by Tattersall (1936), from the Great Barrier Reef. The British worker, W.M. Tattersall contributed more than any other worker to understanding the Australian mysid fauna. He described 26 species of mysids and recorded many more species in a series of papers published between 1912 and 1951. For nearly 30 years after his death little was published on Australian mysids. Between 1979 and 1986 the Romanian worker M. Bacescu published two papers (Bacescu 1979, 1986) and a further two papers jointly with A.J. Bruce and A. Udrescu (Bacescu & Bruce 1980; Bacescu & Udrescu 1982) in which were described an additional 17 species from northern Australia. More recently the Japanese worker, M. Murano (1987, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1999), described 14 new species from northern Australia. Between 1982 and 1998 the Indian worker, S.U. Panampunnayil described 10 new species of mysids from southern and south-western Australia based on CSIRO collections.

Not many Australian workers have studied mysids. Hodge (1963) described a new mysid from the Brisbane River. Fenton (1985a, 1985b, 1990, 1991) described seven species from Tasmania and the Bass Strait. Her main contribution (Fenton 1985a) was the first and only comprehensive review of the Australian mysid fauna. Greenwood & Hadley (1982) redescribed Idiomysis inermis and reported the first females. Greenwood, Greenwood & Wooldridge (1991) described two new species of Haplostylus from sandy beaches in eastern Australia. Talbot (1997) described a new species of Doxomysis from the Great Barrier Reef. A review of the tribe Heteromysini was completed by Daneliya (2021) with two new species and re-arrangement of higher taxonomy.

Because there has never been a centre of focus on Australian mysid taxonomy, there are no significant type collections or comprehensively identified collections of Australian mysids. Type material for only 48 of the 142 species known from Australian waters is held in Australian museums, mainly the Northern Territory Museums and Art Galleries, Darwin and the Queensland Museum, Brisbane.

The mysid diagnostic descriptions are based on diagnoses generated from a DELTA (Dallwitz et al. 1993, 1998) database of mysid higher level taxa. Each diagnosis contains the complete set of diagnostic characters for each mysid higher level taxon. Characters in bold text refer to the unique combination of characters which will define each taxon against all others at that rank.

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
11-Apr-2024	MYSIDA Boas, 1883	09-Apr-2024	MODIFIED
05-Aug-2022	PERACARIDA Calman, 1904	23-May-2022	MODIFIED	Lauren Timms (NMV) Dr Genefor Walker-Smith (NMV)
		17-May-2022	ADDED

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