Four Intertidal Species of The Genus Melita (Crustacea : Amphipoda) from Japanese Waters, Inculding Descriptions of Two New Species

Abstract

Four intertidal species of the genus Melita (sensu Karaman, 1981) are described mainly from the Seto Inland Sea of Japan, of which two are new species, Melita nagatai and Melita bingoensis. Two species, Melita rylovae Bulycheva and M. koreana Stephensen, of which the former was regarded as a synonym of M. koreana by Nagata (1965), are redescribed here as separate species. These four species are closely related, but they are clearly discriminated by the shape of male gnathopod l and female "hooked" coxa 6.