MORPHOLOGY OF ONCAEA MED1TERRANEA 



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Fig. 5 Oncaea mediterranea (Claus, 1863), 9 , broad form (eastern Mediterranean). A, habitus, dorsal; B, same, lateral; C, caudal ramus. 



he was dealing with a species of the englishi group. Supporting 

 evidence for this is found in the morphology of the antenna, 

 maxilliped and leg 4. Dakin and Colefax (1940) recorded the species 

 from New South Wales from a depth of 0-200 m were it was 'rare' 

 but it is doubtful whether they were dealing with O. mediterranea 

 since material collected from the Great Barrier Reef and identified 

 with Claus' species proved upon re-examination to belong to a 

 closely related undescribed species. Razouls (1974) described O. 

 mediterranea from the region of Banyuls-sur-mer (Golfe du Lion) 

 and summarized previous records from the Mediterranean Sea. His 



drawing (Fig. 4G) of the male shows a terminal conical projection on 

 the endopod of swimming leg 4 which disproves his identification as 

 this is a character exclusively found in representatives of the conifera- 

 similis complex. Ferrari (1973, 1975) recorded the species from the 

 Gulf of Mexico and the northern Caribbean Sea and distinguished 

 three size variants, the status of which will be discussed below under 

 'form variants' of O. mediterranea. Boxshall (1977a) recorded O. 

 mediterranea from the Northeastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde 

 Islands and in another report (Boxshall, 1977b) gave detailed infor- 

 mation on their vertical distribution and diurnal vertical migration. 



