Australasian species of Limnoriidae (Crustacea: Isopoda)

Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria 52(2): 1 37-262 ( 1 990) ISSN 08 1 4-1 827 AUSTRALASIAN SPECIES OF LIMNORIIDAE (CRUSTACEA: ISOPODA) By Laurie J. Cookson CSIRO Division of Forest Products, Private Bag 10, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia Abstract Cookson, L.J., 1991. Australasian species of Limnoriidae (Crustacea: Isopoda). Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria 52: 137-262. Some members of the Limnoriidae are important marine wood-borers. The taxonomy of the family was studied with emphasis on species from the Australasian region. The Lim- noriidae are reduced to two genera: Limnoria Leach and Paralimnoria Menzies. The genus Phycolimnoria is synonymised with Limnoria. Species from Australia are redescribed: Limnoria indica Becker and Kampf, L. insulae Menzies, L. multipunctata Menzies, L. nonsegnis Menzies, L. pfefferi Stebbing, L. plaiy- cauda Menzies, L. quadripunctata Holthuis, L. rugosissima Menzies, L. sublittorale Menzies, L. tripunctata Menzies and L. unicornis Menzies. New species from Australia are: L. agrostisa, L. echidna, L. gibbera, L. glaucinosa, L. orbellum, L. poorei, L. raruslima, L. torquisa and L. uncapedis. The new species L. loricata and L. convexa are also described from The Snares, New Zealand. Species from Papua New Guinea are: Paralimnoria andrewsi (Caiman), P. asterosa Cook- son and Cragg, L. andamanensis Rao and Ganapati, L. indica, L. insulae, L. kautensis Cookson and Cragg, L. multipunctata, L. pfefferi, L. tripunctata and L. unicornis. L. antarctica Pfeffer and L. stephenseni Menzies from Macquarie Island are redes- cribed. Although not found near Australia, L. tuberculata Sowinsky is also redescribed to distin- guish it from L. tripunctata. Of the above species, 1 5 are wood-borers, 1 2 algal-borers or dwellers, and 2 seagrass- borers. Commensal crustaceans found with limnoriids, such as harpacticoid copepods, ostracods, and amphipods of the family Cheluridae are noted. Tropichelura insulae (Caiman) (Amphipoda) is recorded from Australia for the first time. Contents Introduction 138 Ecology 138 Commensals 139 Taxonomy 1 40 Specimen sources 1 43 Examination of specimens 144 Terminology 1 44 Useful systematic characters 147 Systematics 153 Limnoriidae 153 Keys 153 Paralimnoria 159 P. andrewsi 159 P. asterosa 1 60 Limnoria 163 L. agrostisa 166 L. andamanensis 1 69 L. antarctica 171 L. convexa 173 L. echidna 177 L. gibbera 179 L. glaucinosa 181 L. indica 182 137