Abstract
A new species of the family Melitidae Bousfield, 1973, Melita petronioi sp. nov., is described with material collected from Patos Lagoon, coast of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. The new species is the unique species of Melita Leach, 1814 in Brazilian waters with urosomites 1 and 2 lacking spines, but urosomite 2 bearing two sets of dorsal stout setae, and the uropod 3 with the outer ramus 2-articulate. It is the first Melita species recorded to the southern region of the country.
Highlights
There are only six species of Melitidae recorded from Brazilian waters: Dulichiella anisochir (Krøyer, 1845); Cuneimelita danielle Senna and Serejo, 2012; Nuuanu peroa Senna and Serejo, in press; Melita orgasmos Barnard, 1940; M. mangrovi Oliveira, 1953; and M. lagunae Oliveira, 1953 (Senna and Serejo, 2012)
Melita petronioi sp. nov. belongs to the group of atypical species, cited by Jarret and Bousfield (1996), and formed by species without dorsal spines on urosome 1
The new species differs from M. nitidaformis by the shape of the propodus of gnathopod 2, with anterior and posterior margins subparallel, and the weakly developed posteroventral lobe on pereopods 5–7
Summary
There are only six species of Melitidae recorded from Brazilian waters: Dulichiella anisochir (Krøyer, 1845); Cuneimelita danielle Senna and Serejo, 2012; Nuuanu peroa Senna and Serejo, in press; Melita orgasmos Barnard, 1940; M. mangrovi Oliveira, 1953; and M. lagunae Oliveira, 1953 (Senna and Serejo, 2012). One of these species, M. lagunae, has never been recorded after its original description. The type locality of this species, originally characterized by a mangrove habitat, beside the Guanabara Bay, were land filled in the 1960s by the Brazilian federal government for the urbanization of a poor community named Complexo da Maré (Azevedo et al, 2008)
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