Corresponding author: Koraon Wongkamhaeng (
Academic editor: C. O. Coleman
Two species of melitid amphipod were collected from the Gulf of Thailand.
Wongkamhaeng K, Pattaratumrong MS, Puttapreecha R (2014) Melitid amphipods from the Gulf of Thailand, with a description of
Melitid amphipods most commonly occur in coastal and freshwater areas. Thailand has a variety of aqueous habitats including coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests, but only one melitid amphipod,
Amphipods were collected from some settlement plates in an artificial reef in Ban Pak Bang Ta Wa, Pattani Bay and from sediment of Lower Songkhla Lake ( , antenna , gnathopod , head , lower lip , mandible , maxilla , maxilliped , pereopod , pleopod , telson , uropod , urosome , upper lip , right , left , male , female
Map of the sampling area.
(
Holotype. ♂, THAILAND, Lower Gulf of Thailand, Pattani Bay (
Based on male holotype. Body length 6.3 mm (from tip of rostrum to apex of telson).
This species is named after the type locality.
The new species also has four spines on the distolateral crown of the male gnathopod 2. Only 7 species,
A summary of the diagnostic characteristicsthat serve to distinguishclosely related
accessory flagellum | lateral cephalic lobe | male large G2 distolateral crown | male G1 coxa anterior margin | male G1 carpus: propodus | male G2 dactylus | pereopod 3–4 dactyli | pereopod 6-7 | pleonite/urosome formular | epimera 3 posteroventral margin | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
5 articles | truncate | with 4 spines, fourth spine not well developed | straight | > | overlapping into palm posterodistal corner | with 2 accessory spines | with bunch of long setae on merus carpus and propodus | 7-7-7-5-6-2 | smooth |
|
5 articles | truncate | with 4 spines, fourth spine not well developed | concave | = | fitting into palm posterodistal corner | with 2 accessory spines | with bunch of long setae on basis merus carpus and propodus | 7-7-7-5-4-2 | smooth |
|
3 articles | truncate | with 3 spines | straight | = | fitting into palm posterodistal corner | with 1 accessory spine | with bunch of long setae on merus carpus and propodus | 7-7-7-5-6-2 | smooth |
|
4 articles | truncate | with 4 spines, fourth spine not well developed | straight | > | overlapping into palm posterodistal corner | with 1 accessory spine | with bunch of long setae on carpus and prooodus | 7-7-7-5-4-2 | serrate |
|
4 articles | truncate | with 4 spines, fourth spine not well developed | concave | > | overlapping into palm posterodistal corner | with 2 accessory spines | with bunch of long setae on carpus and prooodus | 7-7-7-5-4-2 | smooth |
|
5 articles | truncate | with 4 spines, fourth spine well developed | straight | = | fitting into palm posterodistal corner | with 1 accessory spine | with bunch of long setae on basis merus carpus and propodus | 7-7-7-5-4-2 | smooth |
|
4 articles | rounded | with 4 spines, fourth spine well developed | straight | > | fitting into palm posterodistal corner | with 1 accessory spine | with bunch of long setae on carpus and prooodus | 7-7-7-5-4-2 | smooth |
|
4 articles | truncate | with 3 spines | straight | = | fitting into palm posterodistal corner | with 2 accessory spines | with bunch of long setae on carpus and prooodus | 7-7-7-5-6-2 | smooth |
|
4 articles | truncate | with 4 spines, fourth spine well developed | straight | = | fitting into palm posterodistal corner | with 1 accessory spine | with bunch of long setae on carpus and prooodus | 7-7-7-5-4-2/6-2 | smooth |
|
4 articles | truncate | with 4 spines, fourth spine well developed | straight | > | overlapping into palm posterodistal corner | with 2 accessory spines | with bunch of long setae on merus carpus and propodus | 7-6-7-5-4-2 | serrate |
|
no data | truncate | with 3 spines | convex | < | fitting into palm posterodistal corner | with 1 accessory spine | without bunch of long setae | 7-7-7-5-6-2 | serrate |
Lower Gulf of Thailand, Songkhla Lake (
Hainan province, China Sea.
China Sea and Songkhla Lake (current study).
I would like to thank Dr. Jaruwat Nabhitabhata and Mr. Kwan Nualcharoen for assisting me in this research with their insights and expertise. Mr. Sarawoot Gomuttapong was a source of inspiration for this work and Dr. Azman Abdul Rahim drew maps of the sampling area. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Charles Oliver Coleman from the Museum of für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany, and Dr. Jim Lowry from the Australian Museum in Sydney, for their assistance with the literature.