6 - Sphaeromatidae::“Cute As Buttons”

202 FLABELLIFERA • SPHAEROMATIDAE
into the subtropics and tropics. The deep- and abyssal-dwelling species usu­
ally lack eyes. The animals are epibenthic, living in the upper few centime­
ters of the bottom sediment, where they are scavengers and carnivores.
Serolis Leach, 1818
DIAGNOSIS Body markedly dorsoventrally flattened. Coxal plates produced
laterally. Mandible having lacinia mobilis and single spine. Maxillipedal
palp of three articles (rarely two to four). Pereopod 2 exhibiting sexual di­
morphism, subchelate in cJ, ambulatory in 9. Pleopods 1-3, peduncles elon­
gate, rami subelliptical. Pleopod 3, exopod uniarticulate.
Serolis mgrayi Menzies and Frankenberg, 1966
Figure 89
DIAGNOSIS S 4.5 mm, ovigerous 9 4.7 mm. Eyes present. Cephalon with
two middorsal tubercles. Pereonites 2—4 each with faint rounded tubercle
just mesial to coxal suture. Pereon and pleon with faint middorsal longitudi­
nal carina bearing small blunt tubercle on posterior margin of each segment.
Pleonites 1 and 2 with lateral margins not contributing to body outline, over­
lapped by pereonite 6. Pleotelson broadly triangular, with lateral carina in
anterior half; apex truncate. Uropodal rami reaching to or slightly beyond
pleotelsonic apex.
RECORDS Off North Carolina, 18-34 m; off South Carolina, 22 m; off
Georgia, 18-47 m; Florida Keys, 18-88 m; Trinidad; Venezuela, 95 m; Flor­
ida, Gulf of Mexico, 11-88 m.
Family Sphaeromatidae H. Milne Edwards, 1840
DIAGNOSIS Antennular peduncle of three articles, antennal peduncle of five
articles. Mandible stout, lacinia mobilis and molar usually well developed,
palp of three articles. Maxillipedal palp of five articles. Mouthparts in some
genera metamorphosed and somewhat reduced in ovigerous 9 . Pleon of five
partially or completely fused pleonites, often indicated by lateral sutures,
plus dorsally convex and sometimes inflated pleotelson. Uropods lateral, ex­
opod free if present, endopod fused with sympod. Sexual dimorphism often
marked, especially in pleotelsonal structure. Animal often capable of con­
globating or folding over. Young brooded in internal pouches or anterior or
posterior pockets; oostegites variable in number, if present.