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X. Family PARAPHRONIMIDAE Bovallius, 1887 



Crustaceans of average size (up to 30 mm), with a transparent body 

 integument. The head is very large, roundish-cubical, without rostrum, 

 and almost entirely occupied by the eyes, which imparts a resemblance 

 to Phronima (reflected in the family name). Antennae I are attached to 

 the frontal part of the head and are similar in both sexes: the base is 

 three-segmented and the flagellum has one segment, better developed 

 in males. Antennae II are directly attached before the oral appendages 

 and very short in females but longer than the head in males. The oral 

 appendages are highly reduced. The mandibles have neither palp nor 

 dentate process. Maxillae I lack an inner lobe. Maxillae II have broad 

 and low lobes. The maxillipeds have inner and outer lobes which are 

 fused and form a single broad plate. 



The somites of the pereon are free. Pereopods I-II are very short, 

 pereopods I have a weak subchela, and pereopods II are simple. Pere- 

 opods III-VI are simple and barely differentiated in size. Pereopods VII 

 are slightly shorter than the preceding pairs and have a claw-shaped 7th 

 segment. The gills are located on somites II-VI and the oostegites on 

 somites II-V of the pereon. The pleon is slightly shorter than the pereon, 

 its segments equal to or more than the somites of the pereon in height. 

 The rami of the uropods are free. The telson is small. The border between 

 the fused urosome somites II-III is not discernible. 



The family includes one genus. 



1. Genus Paraphwnima Claus, 1879 



Claus, 1879: 64; Chevreux and Page, 1925: 389; Pirlot, 1929: 104. 



The head in relation to the pereon projects markedly on the ventral 

 side and is longer than the first three somites of the pereon. The eyes 

 are subdivided into dorsal and ventral (lesser in volume) parts but not 

 as distinctly as in Phronima. Antennae II in males have elongated basal 

 and terminal segments. The mandibles resemble a rhombic plate with a 

 slightly concave posterior margin and a "functional part" (consisting of 

 the denticulate cutting plate and a row of setae) shifted to the anterior 

 medial angle. The maxillipeds consist of a basal segment and single distal 

 lobe, which is much broader, with convex lateral margins, and an almost 

 straight distal margin with a small wedgeshaped notch in the middle. 



The pereon somites are low and elongate gradually in the posterior 

 direction. The coxal plates are partially or fully fused with the corre- 

 sponding somites. Pereopods I have a prehensile distal part: the projec- 

 tions of the posteior margin of the 4th and 5th segments form a weak 

 double subchela. Pereopods III-VI are long, with linear segments and 

 small claws. Pereopods VII are hardly differentiated from the preceding 



