Vossquilla, Ahyong, 2017

Vossquilla n. gen.

Diagnosis. Eye large; cornea width less than 1/3CL, strongly bilobed, distinctly broader than and set obliquely on stalk. Ocular scales separate. Dorsal integument variously pitted. Mandibular palp 3-articulate. Maxillipeds 1–4 each with epipod. Raptorial claw dactylus with 6 teeth, outer margin lacking basal notch; carpus dorsal carina undivided, smooth to irregular, not tuberculate; merus without outer inferodistal spine. Telson submedian teeth with fixed apices; prelateral lobe present; dorsolateral surface with curved rows of shallow pits; supplementary longitudinal carinae absent; ventral surface with short postanal carina. Carapace with anterolateral spines; median, intermediate, lateral, marginal and reflected marginal carinae present; median carina distinct, not interrupted at base of anterior bifurcation; branches of anterior bifurcation distinct, opening anterior to dorsal pit; posterolateral margin rounded. Thoracic somites 6–8 with distinct submedian and intermediate carinae. Thoracic somites 5–6 lateral processes bilobed. Thoracic somite 7 lateral process undivided.Abdominal somites 1–5 with distinct submedian, intermediate, lateral and marginal carinae; somite 6 with submedian, intermediate and lateral carinae. Abdominal somites 2 and 5 each with dark transverse dorsal patch. Uropodal protopod inner margin crenulate.

Etymology. Named for Harry Vos, “opa” of the first author, for encouragement with her studies. The name is a combination of Vos and the generic name Squilla . Gender feminine.

Type species. Squilla kempi Schmitt, 1931 , by present designation and monotypy.

Remarks. Ahyong (2005) showed by phylogenetic analysis that O. kempi and the type species of Oratosquilla , Oratosquilla oratoria (De Haan, 1844) , were not closely related. Oratosquilla kempi was instead sister to a large clade of genera of the Oratosquilla group that included Oratosquilla sensu stricto deeply nested within. Moreover, apart from the similarly uninterrupted anterior bifurcation of the median carina of the carapace, O. kempi differs from other species of Oratosquilla in important diagnostic features. Given the distant phylogenetic position of O. kempi and its aberrant morphology in comparison to other species assigned to Oratosquilla , a new genus is justified, herein named Vossquilla .

Vossquilla shares with Oratosquilla the uninterrupted anterior bifurcation of the median carina of the carapace, but differs in lacking an outer inferodistal spine on the merus of the raptorial claw, in having an irregular instead or distinctly tuberculate dorsal carina on the carpus of the raptorial claw, in having an undivided instead of distinctly bilobed lateral process of thoracic somite 7, and in having dark dorsal pigment patches on abdominal somites 2 and 5. Removal of Vossquilla kempi from Oratosquilla enables consistent diagnosis of the latter genus. Oratosquilla can now be clearly diagnosed by the combination of an uninterrupted anterior bifurcation of the median carina of the carapace that opens anterior to the dorsal pit, a tuberculate dorsal carina on the carpus and presence of an outer inferodistal spine on the merus of the raptorial claw, and the bilobed lateral processes of the thoracic somites 5–7.

Vossquilla superficially resembles Quollastria Ahyong, 2001 View in CoL by lacking the outer inferodistal spine on the merus of the raptorial claw and the presence of dark dorsal markings on abdominal somites 2 and 5. Vossquilla primarily differs from Quollastria View in CoL , however, in having the anterior bifurcation of the median carina of the carapace entire instead of basally interrupted, and in having an undivided instead of strongly bilobed lateral process of thoracic somite 7. Additionally, V. kempi cannot be placed in either Miyakella Ahyong and Low, 2013 or Oratosquillina Manning, 1995 View in CoL , as both these genera, like Oratosquilla View in CoL , possess a bilobed lateral processes on thoracic somite 7 and the inferodistal spine on the merus of the raptorial claw. Further, Oratosquillina View in CoL has an interrupted anterior bifurcation of the median carina of the carapace, which, in V. kempi is uninterrupted, and in Miyakella is also uninterrupted but of a different form. In Miyakella , the branches of the anterior bifurcation open well behind the dorsal pit, rather than anterior to the pit ( Ahyong, 2001, as Miyakea Manning, 1995 View in CoL ).