• Strahlaxiidae 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 [100].

Introduction

Strahlaxiids are intertidal and shallow-water shrimps distinguished from axiids by the triangular rather than elongate exopods on pleopods 3–5 and a bifid rostrum (Poore 1994). Unpublished research suggests that the family contains only Strahlaxius and that Neaxius belongs elsewhere.

Diagnosis

Rostrum triangular, apically bifid, with lateral teeth; median carina present as ridge or row of spines extending over gastric region. Posterior margin of carapace with lateral lobes interacting with anterolateral lobes on pleonite 1. Eyestalks cylindrical, with terminal subspherical cornea. Scaphocerite elongate.

Diagnosis References

Poore, G.C.B.,& Ahyong, S.T. 2023. Marine decapod Crustacea. A guide to families and genera of the World. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing pp. 928.

General References

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

History of changes

• Neaxius Borradaile, L.A. 1903. On the classification of the Thalassinidea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 12(7): 534-551, 638 [537] [as subgenus of Axius].

  Type species:

   Axia acantha A. Milne Edwards, 1879 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Poore, G.C.B. & Dworschak, P.C. 2018. The Indo-West Pacific species of Neaxiopsis and Neaxius (Crustacea: Axiidea: Strahlaxiidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 77: 15–28 [16]

Introduction

Poore & Dworschak (2018) provide a table with the present identifications of species of Neaxius recorded in Genbank (National Center for Biotechnology Information).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Indo-west Pacific Oceans.

IMCRA

Timor Transition (1), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

General References

Poore, G.C.B. & Dworschak, P.C. 2018. The Indo-West Pacific species of Neaxiopsis and Neaxius (Crustacea: Axiidea: Strahlaxiidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 77: 15–28 [16]

History of changes

• Axia acantha Milne Edwards, A. 1879. Additions à la famille des thalassiniens. Bulletin de la Société Philomathique de Paris 3(7): 110-113 [110].

  Type data:

   Lectotype MNHNP IU-2014-11315 (Th812), New Caledonia.
• Neaxius acanthus (A. Milne Edwards, 1879).
• Eiconaxius taliliensis Borradaile, L.A. 1900. On the Stomatopoda and Macrura brought by Dr Willey from the South Seas. pp. 395-428 in Willey, A. (ed.). Zoological Results based on Material from New Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands and Elsewhere, collected during the Years 1895, 1896, and 1897. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. [420] [subjective synonym].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) UMZC, Papua New Guinea, Talili Bay, New Britain.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Poore, G.C.B. & Dworschak, P.C. 2018. The Indo-West Pacific species of Neaxiopsis and Neaxius (Crustacea: Axiidea: Strahlaxiidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 77: 15–28 [17]

Generic Combinations

• Eiconaxius acanthus (A. Milne Edwards, 1879).
• Axius (Neaxius) acanthus (A. Milne Edwards, 1879).
• Neaxius acanthus (A. Milne Edwards, 1879).

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

New Caledonia (type locality), east Africa, Madagascar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan. Both N. glyptocercus and N. acanthus are present at the tip of Cape York.

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

History of changes

• Neaxius capricornicus Poore, G.C.B. & Dworschak, P.C. 2018. The Indo-West Pacific species of Neaxiopsis and Neaxius (Crustacea: Axiidea: Strahlaxiidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 77: 15–28 [21].
  Zoobank Registration Number:http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0FEDB7A0-7265-4E5B-A26D-861FFFB7F7B6

  Type data:

   Holotype NMV J39643 ♀, Dunwich, Deanbilla Bay, North Stradbroke I., QLD [27° 30' S, 153° 24' E].
  Paratype(s) NMV J71641, J40714 3 ♀♀, same as holotype; AM P.13723 ♂, same as holotype; AM P.10060, P.11829 2 ♀♀, North West I., Capricorn Group, QLD [23° 18' S, 151° 42' E].

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Queensland, between 23°S to 27°30'S; west-central Pacific (Fiji, Tahiti)

IMCRA

Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40)

Misidentifications

Axius (Neaxius) glyptocercus in Poore & Griffin (1979)

Misidentifications

Neaxius glyptocercus in Tudge & Cunningham (2002), Tsang et al. (2008), Robles et al. (2009), Sakai (2011)

General References

Poore, G.C.B. & Griffin, D.J.G. 1979. The Thalassinidea (Crustacea: Decapoda) of Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 32(6): 217-321 [236–238 (partim), figs 8g–i] (as Axius (Neaxius) glyptocercus)

Robles, R., Tudge, C.C., Dworschak, P.D., Poore, G.C.B. & Felder, D.L. 2009. Molecular phylogeny of the Thalassinidea based on nuclear and mitochondrial genes. pp. 309–326 in Martin, J.W., Crandall, K.A. & Felder, D.L. (eds). Decapod Crustacean Phylogenetics. Bocan Raton : CRC Press - Crustacean Issues Vol. 18 632 pp. [316] (as Neaxius glyptocercus)

Sakai, K. 2011. Axioidea of the world and a reconsideration of the Callianassoidea (Decapoda, Thalassinidea, Callianassida). Crustaceana Monographs 13: 1-616 [326-331 [partim]]

Tsang, L.M., Lin, F.-J., Chu, K.H. & Chan, T.-Y. 2008. Phylogeny of Thalassinidea (Crustacea, Decapoda) inferred from three rDNA sequences: implications for morphological evolution and superfamily classification. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 46: 216–223 [218–219] (as Neaxius glyptocercus)

Tudge, C.C. & Cunningham, C.W. 2002. Molecular phylogeny of the mud lobsters and mud shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda: Thalassinidea) using nuclear 18s rDNA and mitochondrial 16s rDNA. Invertebrate Systematics 16: 839–847 [841] (as Neaxius glyptocercus)

History of changes

• Axius glyptocercus Martens, E. von 1868. Über einige neue Crustaceen. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1868: 608-615 [613].

  Type data:

   Holotype ZMB 2973 ♂ (museum not determined), Cape York, Australia.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Poore, G.C.B. & Dworschak, P.C. 2018. The Indo-West Pacific species of Neaxiopsis and Neaxius (Crustacea: Axiidea: Strahlaxiidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 77: 15–28 [24]

Generic Combinations

• Neaxius glyptocercus (von Martens, 1868). —
  Sakai, K. 1994. Eleven species of Australian Axiidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Thalassinidea) with descriptions of one new genus and five new species. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 11: 175-202 [200]

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Northern Territory, east of Darwin, and from Cape York to Bowen (10°45'S–20°S), QLD

Australian Endemic.

IMCRA

Timor Transition (1), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

Benthic, burrower, low intertidal, muddy sand, shallow subtidal.

General References

Davie, P. 1998. Wild Guide to Moreton Bay. Wildlife and habitats of a beautiful Australian coast – Noosa to the Tweed. Brisbane : Queensland Museum xxiv 408 pp. [98] (colour photograph)

History of changes

• Strahlaxius Sakai, K. & de Saint Laurent, M. 1989. A check list of Axiidae (Decapoda, Crustacea, Thalassinidea, Anomura), with remarks and in addition descriptions of one new subfamily, eleven new genera and two new species. Naturalists 3: 1-104 [24].

  Type species:

   Axius plectrorhynchus Strahl, 1861 by original designation.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Indo-west Pacific Oceans.

IMCRA

Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

History of changes

• Axius plectrorhynchus Strahl, C. 1862. Über einige neue von Hrn F. Jagor eingesandte Thalassinen und die systematische Stellung dieser Familie. Monatsberichte der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1861: 1055-1072 14 figs [1060 figs 2, 4, 11].

  Type data:

   Holotype ZMB ♀ adult (probable depository institution), Luzon.

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

East Indo-west Pacific Oceans. Records of S. plectrorhynchus from southern Australia belong to an undescribed species. (G. Poore, 2025)

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Ecological Descriptors

Burrower, coral reef, littoral, sublittoral.

Extra Ecological Information

Found at edge of beach rock, vertical burrows, depth to 13 m.

General References

Sakai, K. & de Saint Laurent, M. 1989. A check list of Axiidae (Decapoda, Crustacea, Thalassinidea, Anomura), with remarks and in addition descriptions of one new subfamily, eleven new genera and two new species. Naturalists 3: 1-104 [24]

History of changes

• Axius (Neaxius) waroona Poore, G.C.B. & Griffin, D.J.G. 1979. The Thalassinidea (Crustacea: Decapoda) of Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 32(6): 217-321 [240 fig. 10].

  Type data:

   Holotype WAM 20-75 ♀, N side of Cape Naturaliste, WA.
  Paratype(s) AM P8676; AM P24662; AM P25291; AM P4841; AM P24664; AM G5757; WAM 73-75; WAM 151-76; WAM 9-75; WAM 432-73; WAM 130-75; WAM 174-31; SAMA C880.

Distribution

States

Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IMCRA

Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Ecological Descriptors

Littoral.

Extra Ecological Information

Under rocks.

History of changes