Parechinolaophonte, Song & Lee & Kim & George & Khim, 2023

Parechinolaophonte gen. nov.

Diagnosis.

Laophontidae T. Scott, 1905. Body elongate, cylindrical, podoplean boundary between pro- and urosome inconspicuous. Whole body minutely punctate. Sexual dimorphism in A1, P5 and P6; female with GDS. Cphth reaching about 1/3 of total body length; lateral margins of cphth extended outwardly, triangular; distal outer edges of cphth with paired backwardly directed protrusions, dorsally with longitudinal cuticular ridge crossed by 2 furrows. Rostrum fused to cphth, laterally constricted, almost square. Body somites without pronounced dorsal cuticular processes; abdominal somites, except telson, with weakly developed cuticular spinulose structures on posterior margins. Pseudoperculum weakly developed, consisting of 4 small protrusions bearing several fine spinules apically. CR about twice as long as broad, with 7 setae (cf. Wells and Rao (1987), fig. 143i). Female A1 slender, 6-segmented; male A1 subchirocer, number of segments unknown. A2 with 1-segmented exopod bearing 4 setae, allobasis with 1 abexopodal seta; endopod 1-segmented, with 2 lateral spines and 5 apical setae/spines (cf. Wells and Rao (1987), fig. 143j). Mxp prehensile, syncoxa and basis of approximately the same length; syncoxa with 1 pinnate seta on apical margin, basis with spinulose field on anterior margin; claw massive, accompanied by minute seta. P1 prehensile, with extremely elongated coxa and basis, the former massive and larger than the latter, nearly reaching the length of enp-1. Exopod 2-segmented, more than half the length of enp-1; exp-1 half as long as exp-2, with 1 outer spine, exp-2 with 3 outer and 2 apical spines/setae. Endopod 2-segmented, enp-1 extremely elongated, massive, enp-2 small, apically with 1 strong curved claw and 1 tiny seta. P2-P4 with 3-segmented exopods and 2-segmented endopods. Female P5 with baseoendopod bearing 4 setae; exopod fused with baseoendopod, with 3 setae. Male P5 with completely reduced baseoendopod, exopod small and distinct, with 3 setae. Female "genital field simple, without trace of P6" ( Wells and Rao 1987: 177); male P6 small, with 1 seta and 1 strong spine.

Etymology.

The generic name is composed of the Greek prefix pará -, meaning similar and the generic name Echinolaophonte . Gender: feminine.

Type and only species.

Parechinolaophonte tropica (Ummerkutty, 1970), gen. et comb. nov., by original designation.