Redescription of Phoxocephalopsis Zimmeri With a New Species, and Establishment of the Family Phoxocephalopsidae (Crustacea, Amphipoda) From Magellanic South America

Abstract

The marine fossorial Phoxocephalopsis zimmeri from the shallow sea floor of Magellanic South America is redescribed and made the type genus of a new family. This taxon stands in ancestral position both to the more apomorphic Urohaustoriidae of old Gondwanan seas and the vastly more apomorphic Haustoriidae confined to the North Atlantic Ocean. Urohaustoriidae have more advanced uropodal rami and Haustoriidae have more advanced mouthparts. A new species, Phoxocephalopsis gallardoi, from Magellan Strait, is described. A key to the species of Phoxocephalopsis includes Phoxocephalopsis deceptionis, P. psammophila, and a supposed new species culled from the literature.