PORT PHILLIP BAY


Skeleton Louse 

Neastacilla deducta Hale, 1925

View scientific description and taxonomy

Scientific Details

Head dorsally smooth. Eye small, subtriangular. Fusion of head and pereonite 1 defined with a suture. Pereonite 4 dorsally smooth (female with slight lateral expansion of pereonite 4 at midlength), extremely elongate (greater than 8 times as long as pereonite 3), not square in dorsal view. Pleotelson without defined lateral wings, apex blunt, without apical notch.

Source: King (2003), Neastacilla Tattersall, 1921 redefined, with eight new species from Australia (Crustacea: Isopoda: Arcturidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 60(2): 371-416.

Taxonomy

Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Subclass:
Eumalacostraca
Superorder:
Peracarida
Order:
Isopoda
Suborder:
Valvifera
Family:
Arcturidae
Genus:
Neastacilla
Species:
deducta

General Description

Body cylindrical, with prominent antennae. The first four pairs of legs are thin and with rows of hairs; the last three pairs are more stubby and attach the animal. The body bends between the elongate fourth body segment and the fifth, up to 10 mm long.

Biology

Neastacilla species are the masters of disguise as both the colour and slender body of these isopods would fool even the hungriest of predators into looking elsewhere for its meal.

Habitat

Subtidal in algae to depths of 21 m.

Reefs

Distribution guide

Southern temperate oceans, including south-eastern Australia.

Species Group

Microcrustaceans › Isopods

Depth

Shore (0-1 m)
Shallow (1-30 m)
Deep ( > 30 m)

Water Column

On or near sea floor

Max Size

10 mm

Diet

Plankton or Particles

Commercial Species

No

Global Dispersal

Recorded in Australia

Species Code

MoV 248

Conservation Status

  • DSE Advisory List : Not listed
  • EPBC Act 1999 : Not listed
  • IUCN Red List : Not listed

Author

article author Taylor, J.

Dr. Jo Taylor is the Sciences Collections Online Coordinator at Museum Victoria.

Author

article author Poore, G.C.B.

Dr. Gary Poore is Principal Curator Emeritus at Museum Victoria.

citation

Cite this page as:
Taylor, J. & Poore, G.C.B., 2011, Skeleton Louse, Neastacilla deducta, in Taxonomic Toolkit for marine life of Port Phillip Bay, Museum Victoria, accessed 15 Dec 2024, http://136.154.202.208:8098/species/5303

Text: creative commons cc by licence