Abstract
This paper deals with some of the Amphipoda Maeridae, i.e. seven species in the genera Anamaera, Ceradocus, Clessidra gen. nov., Jerbarnia, Maera and Meximaera, collected during the Hourglass cruises, a 28-month sampling programme at 10 stations (5–73 m depth) on the central West Florida shelf. A new genus Clessidra is erected for Maera tinkerensis Kunkel, and Maera caroliniana Bynum and Fox is found to be a junior synonym of Meximaera diffidentia. Keys to these Atlantic maerids, and to world Ceradocus species, are provided.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Ms Sandra Farrington (Invertebrate Collection Manager, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute St Petersburg, FL, USA), and to Dr Sarah LeCroy (GCRL Museum University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, FL, USA) for much help in procuring the Hourglass material and station data, and to Prof. Sandro Ruffo, Verona, for housing the material in his museum for many years. W.V. thanks the Research Council for Science and the Humanities in Norway for funding, enabling him to stay in Adendorf several times, and Traudl and Franz Krapp for great hospitality there.