521 



Epimeral plates I-II have rounded margins. Epimeral plate III has 

 an extended and pointed posterior distal angle. Each plate has one large 

 cuticular pore (as in Cranocephalus scleroticus), whose functional impor- 

 tance is not clear. Urosomite I (top view) is almost square. Urosomite II 

 (geminate) is long, somewhat tapered distally, and its length not more 

 than twice its width. The basipodite of uropods I is narrow, not reaching 

 the base of the telson, its margins parallel, and the inner one denticu- 

 late. The basipodite of uropods II terminates at the same level as the 

 basipodite of uropods I, the distal part is shghtly broadened, its length 

 less than twice its width, and the inner margin denticulate. The rami 

 of all the uropods are equal in length and denticulate on both sides, 

 their tips falling markedly short of the tip of the telson. The telson is 

 elongated-triangular, shorter than the last urosomite, and its tip pointed, 

 often stretched. 



The gills are large and in males with a folded surface, as is the last 

 pair in females. The oostegites are narrow; during formation of the brood 

 chamber they are supplemented by the first four pairs of gills, which in 

 females are roundly broadened with a smooth surface. 



Distribution: Circumtropical in all oceans. Its area of distribution 

 almost does not cross the limits of 30°N and S. 



3. Genus Leptocotis Streets, 1877 



Streets, 1877:136; Stebbing, 1888:1593; Bovallius, 1890:47, 110; 

 Stephensen, 1925a: 191; Bowman and Gruner,1973: 52. — Dorycephalus 

 Bovallius, 1890: 46, 75. 



The body is elongated and has a thin integument. The head is almost 

 1/3 the body length. The rostrum is long, tapered toward the tip, and 

 bent downward; the lower part of the head and rostrum bears small setae 

 but keels and denticles are absent. The head is much higher than the 

 first somite of the pereon but forms a short constriction at the place of 

 articulation with the pereon. The pereon is slightly larger than the pleon 

 or the two equal in length. The coxal plates are free. The pereopods are 

 short and weak; pereopods I and II have subchelae; pereopods VII have 

 a strongly broadened 2nd segment, are reduced distally, and three- to 

 five-segmented. 



The urosome is equal in length to the pleon. The rami of uropods II 

 are free in males, but the endopodite fused with the basipodite in females. 

 The endopodite of uropods III is fused with the basipodite in both sexes. 

 The last (geminate) urosomite is fairly long — 2.5-3 times the length of 

 the telson. Uropods I-II are long, uropods III are very short. The telson 

 is elongated-triangular with a highly pointed tip. 



Type species: Leptocotis spinifera Streets, 1877. 



The genus is monotypic. 



