Amathillopsis australis Stebbing, 1883

Springthorpe, Roger T. & Hughes, Lauren E., 2025, Alexandrella wimdecocki sp. nov. (Stilipedidae Holmes, 1908) and new records for three Australian Abyssal Amphipods (Crustacea: Peracarida), Zootaxa 5636 (3), pp. 538-550 : 539-540

Amathillopsis australis Stebbing, 1883

( Fig. 1A )

Amathillopsis australis Stebbing, 1883: 205 .— Stebbing, 1888: 860–866, pl. LXV.— Stebbing, 1906: 385–386.— Barnard & Karaman, 1991: 390.— Lowry & Stoddart, 2003: 46 (catalogue).— Tomikawa & Mawatari, 2006: 205, table 1.— Lörz & Horton, 2021: Tables 1 , 2.

Type material. Holotype (by monotypy), one female, BMNH 1889.5.15.70 , between Australia and New Guinea (12°8'S 145°10'E), 1400 fathoms [2560 m], bottom, Globigerina ooze, bottom temperature 36°F [2.2°C], trawled, 29 August 1874, HMS Challenger station 184.

Type Locality. Between Australia and New Guinea (12°8'S, 145°10'E), depth 1400 fathoms [2560 m].

Material Examined. 1 specimen, AM P.100454, Central Eastern Commonwealth Marine Reserve, New South Wales (30°05'56"S 153°35'46"E), 1257– 1194 m, 5 June 2017, Four Metre Beam Trawl, coll. L.E. Hughes, F. Koehler, E.K. Kupriyanova, RV Investigator (IN2017_ V03 _080).

Additional material (not seen). Queensland: 1 specimen, QM W28407, East of Cairns, Coral Sea (16°50'49.8"S 147°10'36.6"E), 1607 m, 14 May 1986, Sledge, ORV Franklin (Station 35-3) ; 1 specimen, QM W28409 , East of Innisfail , Coral Sea (17°18'57.6"S 147°11'09.6"E), 1406 m, 12 May 1986, Sledge, ORV Franklin (Station 30- 2) ; 1 specimen, QM W28410 , East of Tully , Coral Sea (17°46'31.8"S 147° 48'49.2"E), 1224 m, 10 May 1986, Sledge, ORV Franklin (Station 20-3) ; 1 specimen, QM W28408 , North East of Townsville , Coral Sea (18°09'07.2"S 148°31'14.4"E), 1103 m, 8 May 1986, Sledge, ORV Franklin (Station 11-3) .

Remarks. The RV Investigator 2017 material expands the known distribution range of the species further south by more than 12 degrees latitude and increases the number of known specimens of Amathillopsis australis to six. Lowry (unpublished) identified four specimens in the Queensland Museum collected in 1986, off Northern Queensland which form a tight geographic Coral Sea sampling cluster compared to the current southern record which, at 30 degrees latitude, is at the boundary region of the Coral and Tasman Seas.

Depth. 1103–2560 m ( Stebbing, 1883; current study).

Distribution. Australia. Torres Strait ( Stebbing, 1883), Far North Queensland, Coral Sea (current study).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of Australian Abyssal Amphipods: A. Amathillopsis australis Stebbing, 1883; B. Cyphocaris anonyx Boeck, 1971; C. Octomana hadromischa Hendrycks & Conlan, 2003 and D. Alexandrella wimdecocki sp. nov.