105 



their cutting edge is slightly denticulate; the left mandible has an acces- 

 sory plate. Maxillae I are the same as in Lanceola, with a broad outer 

 and small narrow inner lobe. In maxillae II the lobes are equal in size. 

 The maxillipeds have a large round outer lobe densely armed with long 

 setae and a small separate inner lobe. 



The pereopods are strong and short; pereopods III and IV are longer 

 than the rest. Pereopods III-VII are strong, with a well-developed spoon- 

 shaped formation at the distal. end of the 6th segment and a curved 

 retractile claw. The uropods are short and broad. The telson is roundish- 

 triangular and shorter than the basipodite of uropods III. 



The structure of the pereopods, armed with retractile claws, and the 

 structure of the mouthparts often bring this family close to the fam- 

 ily Lanceolidae, from which it differs primarily in the absence of the 

 mandibular palp and rudimentary antennae II. 



According to Woltereck (1909), the chuneolids parasitize deepwater 

 tunicates and medusae. Actually, in the stomach of Chuneola not even 

 once could any food other than a brownish red mass (pigmented layer of 

 deepwater medusae), containing a large quantity of nematocysts of some 

 coelenterates, be found. True, such a food composition is characteristic also 

 of a vast majority of other Physosomata (Vinogradov, 1957). However, in 

 the Chuneolidae the relationship with the host is more intimate. The falcate 

 retractile claws, which serve for a dependable grasp on the soft tissues of the 

 host, are present in these crustaceans not only on pereopods V-VII, but also 

 on pereopods III-IV, and in less developed forms also on pereopods II. The 

 short and strong pereopods facilitate a dependable attachment to the host. 

 The high degree of obligate parasitism in the Chuneolidae is also indicated 

 by very weak pleopods and uropods, reduced antennae and dorsoventrally 

 flattened body (especially in the young specimens). The loss of mandibular 

 palps is certainly associated with this. 



It is interesting to note that gammarid groups of the genera Cypho- 

 caris of the family Lysianassidae {Paracyphocaris, Metacyphocaris, Cry- 

 belocyphocaris, Crybelocephalus, and others), having adapted to ectopar- 

 asitism and developed the requisite adaptation for stable attachment to 

 host tissues (formation of strong pseudochelae on pereopods III-V and 

 sometimes on pereopods VI-VII), likewise exhibit a tendency toward 

 weakening of the uropods and pleopods, shortening of the antennae, and 

 total or partial reduction of the mandibular palps. 



The family includes only one genus, Chuneola. 



1. Genus Chuneola Woltereck, 1909 



Woltereck, 1909: 152. 



The integument is thin and transparent. The body is spindle shaped; 

 in sexually mature females the pereon bulges due to the enlarged somites 



