Genus Pyrhila n. gen.

TYPE SPECIES. — Philyra pisum De Haan, 1841 .

ETYMOLOGY. — Pyrhila is an anagram of Philyra . Gender feminine.

DIAGNOSIS. — Carapace suborbiculate, globose; regions of carapace indistinct, save for branchio-cardiac grooves. Dorsal surface of carapace variably granulate. Frontal region slightly produced, medially grooved. Antennular fossa transversely oval, sealed by basal antennular segment. Antennae short, inserted between antennular fossa and orbit. Orbits small, rounded, upper orbital margin unisutured. Eyes retractable. Anterior margin of efferent branchial channel sinuous, projecting beyond frontal margin, separated from crenulate subhepatic margin by deep fissure. External maxilliped exopod as wide as endopod; endopodal ischium longer than subtriangular merus, bearing in female setose fringe lengthwise. Hepatic facet well defined, lower margin prominently angular. Lateral and posterior margins of carapace irregularly beaded. Epimeral margin meeting lateral margin at posterior margin, closely beaded. Chelipeds subequal, longer, stockier in adult male than in female specimens. Cheliped merus subcylindrical, slightly swollen proximally on anterior margin, surface minutely granulate, granulate. Fingers as long as propodus. Pereiopods slender, short. Pereiopodal meri longer than carpi and propodi; dactyli longer than propodi, lanceolate, terminating in cornute tips. Male abdominal sulcus deep, nearly reaching buccal cavity. First abdominal segment of male transversely narrow, medially excavate, yoke-like. Second to sixth abdominal segments fused; proximal margin with median lobe, lateral margin bearing three indistinct ridges fitting into sutures between sternal segments; lacking subterminal denticle; telson elongate, laciniate. Female abdomen with first two segments transversely narrow, medially excavate, segments three to six fused, greatly enlarged, shield-like. First male pleopod elongate, shaft wide, dorsoventrally flattened, tip setose; apical process nearly tubular, elongate. Second male pleopod short, slender, apex scoop-like.

REMARKS

Pyrhila n. gen. differs from Philyra Leach, 1817 (emend.) and Ryphila n. gen., in possessing a welldefined hepatic facet, a single transverse segment proximally on the male abdomen rather than two, and in having a tubular apical process on first male pleopod, rather than subterminally alate or filiform process. Pyrhila n. gen. shares with Lyphira n. gen., and Hiplyra n. gen. the single jointed proximal male abdominal segment, but differs from both in the shape of the apical process on first male pleopod. In addition, it differs from Lyphira n. gen. in lacking the subterminal denticle on the fused male abdominal segments, and from Hiplyra n. gen. in lacking the thick fringe of setae on the pollex.