September, 1999 
SCAMIT Newsletter 
Vol. 18, No.5 
species originally described as Tiron into 
Metatiron. One of the salient differences 
between the two genera is the mandibular palp, 
which is absent in members of Metatiron. In 
consequence we must recognize that “T. ” 
tropakis belongs in Metatiron , while T. 
biocellata is properly allocated to Tiron. 
Barnard explicitly mentioned the absence of a 
mandibular palp in his original description of 
Tiron tropakis in 1972. In his original 
description of T. biocellata he indicated that the 
mouthparts were the same as T. spiniferum , the 
type of Tiron , with but two exceptions. The 
mandibular palp was neither illustrated nor 
described, but was not listed as an exception 
(Barnard 1962). Examination of locally 
collected T. biocellata and M. tropakis have 
confirmed the presence of a palp in the former, 
and its absence in the latter. Jim Roney (HYP) 
had mentioned this difference in a Taxonomic 
List Server communication earlier this year, but 
either did not appreciate (as I had not), or 
didn’t mention the consequent separation at the 
generic level. Edition 3 of the SCAMIT 
Taxonomic Listing is in error as regards 
Metatiron tropakis (Barnard 1972); a 
correction will be made in Ed. 4. - Don Cadien 
(CSDLAC) 
NEW ISOPOD 
Hi all, 
Just a quick “heads up” or “look out” regarding 
Southern California Bight Edotia. There 
appears to be a third species of Edotia in the 
SCB that we are tentatively calling EDOTIA SP 
SD 1 in our database. The specimens were 
collected in 60 m of water from one of the 
Bight’98 Channel Island stations. The species 
resembles E. sublittoralis very closely, 
especially in terms of pleonal morphology — 
i.e., they have an inflated pleon (or pleotelson) 
with large dorsal swellings rather then the non- 
inflated pleon with a distinct transverse ridge 
(carina) characteristic of Edotia sp B. In other 
words, they would key to E. sublittoralis in the 
key I distributed some time ago. However, the 
specimens looked a little “different” and were 
from relatively deep water more characteristic 
of the habitat of E. sp B. Consequently, I 
examined the pereopods of the “new” species 
and they appear to be distinct from either E. 
sublittoralis or E. sp B (the pereopods of these 
two species are quite distinct from each other). 
I will try and put out a sheet soon describing 
these differences and any others that may 
become apparent. In the meantime, I would 
appreciate it if you could pull any “suspect” 
specimens and send them to me for additional 
examination. I would consider suspect any 
“sublittoralis ” occurring at depths > about 45 
m — actually perhaps any Channel Island 
critters in general. 
Finally, I am trying to complete my paper 
describing E. sp B and redescribing E. 
sublittoralis , although I guess I’ll now add the 
3rd species as well. However, I still haven’t 
had the opportunity to examine any Edotia sp 
B specimens from waters north of the San 
Diego area. Consequently, any specimens or 
even location info (i.e., I need a Northern range 
limit) would be appreciated. 
Thanks, 
Tim 
Timothy D. Stebbins 
City of San Diego Marine Biology Laboratory 
4918 North Harbor Drive, Suite 101 
San Diego, CA 92106 USA 
Tel: (619) 692-4900; Fax: (619) 692-4902 
E-mail: tds@sdcity.sannet.gov 
JOB OPPORTUNITY 
I recently received the following e-mail from 
Maggie Dutch and am posting this listing for 
any of you who may be interested (I for one, 
would love to live in Washington - M. Lilly, 
Secretary) 
Hi Megan, 
I work with the Washington State Department 
of Ecology’s Marine Monitoring 
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