Order MICTACEA Bowman, Garner, Hessler, Iliffe & Sanders, 1985

Hirsutia sandersetalia

© Copyright from Just & Poore 1988.

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Introduction

The order Mictacea was described for species in two families (Bowman et al. 1985). The only species of the family Mictocarididae inhabits marine pools in sea-level caves in Bermuda (Bowman & Iliffe 1985). Members of the second family, Hirsutiidae, live in the deep sea, two species in the Atlantic (Sanders et al. 1985; Gutu & Iliffe 1998) and the third off the southeastern Australian coast. Gutu (1998) placed the Mictocarididae with the Spelaeogriphacea in a new peracarid order, Cosinzeneacea, and Gutu & Iliffe (1998) placed Hirsutiidae in another order, Bochusacea. Neither proposal has been widely accepted.

Diagnosis

Body slender; head fused to thoracomere 1; carapace absent; telson free; antenna 1 with 2 flagella; maxilliped without epipod; pereopods with natatory exopods; pleopods 1–5 reduced.

References

Bowman, T.E. & Iliffe, T.M. 1985. Mictocaris halope, a new unusual peracaridan crustacean from marine caves on Bermuda. Journal of Crustacean Biology 5: 58–73

Bowman, T.E., Garner, S.P., Hessler, R.R., Iliffe, T.M. & Sanders, H.L. 1985. Mictacea, a new order of Crustacea Peracarida. Journal of Crustacean Biology 5: 74–78

Gutu, M. 1998. Spelaeogriphacea and Mictacea (partim) suborders of a new order, Cosinzeneacea (Crustacea, Peracarida). Travaux du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle "Grigore Antipa" 40: 121–129

Gutu, M. & Iliffe, T.M. 1998. Description of a new hirsutiid (n. g., n. sp.) and reassignment of this family from Order Mictacea to the new order, Bochusacea (Crustacea, Peracarida). Travaux du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle "Grigore Antipa" 40: 93–120

Sanders, H.L., Hessler, R.R. & Garner, S.P. 1985. Hirsutia bathyalis, a new unusual deep-sea benthic peracaridan crustacean from the tropical Atlantic. Journal of Crustacean Biology 5: 30–57