Family PARASTENHELIIDAE Lang, 1936

Museums

Museum list

Regional Maps

Family PARASTENHELIIDAE Lang, 1936

Compiler and date details

31 May 2007 - G.K. Walker-Smith & K. Chilton-Lahey

Parastenheliinae Lang, K. 1936. Copepoda Harpacticoida. Swedish Antarctic Expedition 1901–1903, Further Zoological Results 3: 1-68 [23, 53].
Type genus:
Parastenhelia Thomspn & A. Scott, 1903.
Secondary source:
Lang, K. 1948. Monographie der Harpacticiden. Lund, Sweden : Håkan Ohlssons Boktrycheri 1682 pp. [584].

Introduction

Parastenhelia is the type genus of the family Parastenheliidae Lang, 1944. Historically, however, the genus has been placed in several other families. Thompson and A. Scott (1903) established Parastenhelia to differentiate two new species from Stenhelia Boeck, 1865 (i.e. Parastenhelia hornelli Thompson & A. Scott, 1903 and P. similis Thompson & A. Scott, 1903) and place it in the family Harpacticidae Sars, 1904. At that time, Harpacticidae was broadly defined by Claus (1863) but in 1904, Sars restricted the definition and is now recognised as the author of Harpacticidae (Lang 1948). In 1912, T. Scott described P. antarctica and acknowledged the presence of three other species of Parastenhelia (P. hornelli, P. similis and P. angelica Norman and T. Scott, 1905) all of which he placed in the family Canthocamptidae Sars, 1906. T. Scott (1912) made no mention of P. gracilis Brady, 1910 or P. (?) tenuis Brady, 1910. In 1927, Gurney synonymised P. antarctica with P. gracilis and also recognised Parastenhelia as a member of the family Canthocamptidae. However, Monard (1927) moved Parastenhelia to the family Diosaccidae Sars, 1906. Lang (1934) synonymised Microthalestris with Parastenhelia and placed Parastenhelia in the Thalestridae Sars, 1905. Later, Lang (1936) established the subfamily Parastenheliinae (within the Thalestridae) for Parastenhelia in recognition of a combination of characters not seen in other genera of Thalestridae. Lang (1936) suspected elevation to family status was warranted but was unsure if the genus belonged in the Canthocamptidae. He admitted he did not know the Canthocamptidae well enough to eliminate this possibility. In 1944, Lang erected Parastenheliidae for the genus Parastenhelia and designated Harpacticus spinosa Fischer, 1860 as the type species as Thompson and Scott (1903) had not assigned a type species for Parastenhelia. Lang (1944) suggested the diagnosis of the family be the same as that of the genus Microthalestris Sars 1905 (a junior synonym of Parastenhelia) and synonymised Thalestrella Monard, 1935 with Parastenhelia.

Bodin (1997) and others (e.g. Willen 2000) attribute the authorship of Parastenheliidae to Lang (1944). However, Lang (1936) first used in the name Parastenheliinae as a sub-family name and, in accordance with the Principle of Coordination applied to family-group names (ICZN Art. 36.1), Lang (1936) should be considered as the authority of the family Parastenheliidae as authorship and date remain unchanged at every rank. Huys and Boxshall (1991) recognised Lang (1936) as the correct author of Parastenheliidae.

Gee (2006) provides the most recent overview of the genera within the Parastenheliidae. One species is known to occur in Australian waters.{}