Phyllocheres, , Humes, 1996

Regarding Phyllocheres View in CoL validity

In the redescription of Phyllocheres petalus , type species of the genus, the major striking diagnostic features, such as the armatures of the third exopodal segment of leg 1 as III,I,3, the third endopodal segment of leg 1 as 1,1+I,3, and the third endopodal segment of leg 4 as 1,1+1,2, are not confirmed. Therefore, the unique species of Phyllocheres , based on the setation of legs 1 to 4, fits other genera, such as Asterocheres , and Neoasterocheres , among others.

The redefinition of Asterocheres as proposed by Kim (2010) is built on the antennule segmentation and leg 3 endopod setation as 1-1+I-3 and left many species a s inquirendae. According to Kim (2010), Asterocheres has an aesthetasc on the 18th segment (XXI), and therefore the 9th segment refers to the fusion of the ancestral segments IX–XII.

Setacheres , as proposed by Johnsson et al. (2016), gathered 8 of the species inquirendae previously assigned to Asterocheres , and it is characterized by the third endopodal segment of leg 3 having 1-2-3.

Six other species inquirendae were grouped in Neoasterocheres according to Canário et al. (2017), which shows the antennule of female majorly 19-segmented, with large aesthetasc on the 17th segment and ancestral segments IX–XIII fused.

However, among the other characteristics included in the diagnosis of Phyllocheres, Humes (1996) states that the female antennule is 19-segmented with aesthetasc on segment 17. This condition implies the fusion of ancestral segments IX to XIII, the same apomorphic characteristic used by Canário et al. (2017) when establishing the genus Neoasterocheres to accommodate the species inquirendae excluded from Asterocheres .

With the exclusion of setation characteristics mentioned above from the diagnosis of Phyllocheres , its major diagnostic features are the same as the ones used by Canário et al. (2017) to erect Neoasterocheres . Therefore, following the principle of priority of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, Neoasterocheres has to become a junior synonym of Phyllocheres .