et al., H. (2024). A New Species of Vasco, Barnard and Drummond (1978) (Amphipoda: Phoxocephalidae) from the Egyptian Red Sea Coast. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 28(4), 1643-1654. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2024.374420
Hosein et al.. "A New Species of Vasco, Barnard and Drummond (1978) (Amphipoda: Phoxocephalidae) from the Egyptian Red Sea Coast". Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 28, 4, 2024, 1643-1654. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2024.374420
et al., H. (2024). 'A New Species of Vasco, Barnard and Drummond (1978) (Amphipoda: Phoxocephalidae) from the Egyptian Red Sea Coast', Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 28(4), pp. 1643-1654. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2024.374420
et al., H. A New Species of Vasco, Barnard and Drummond (1978) (Amphipoda: Phoxocephalidae) from the Egyptian Red Sea Coast. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 2024; 28(4): 1643-1654. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2024.374420
A New Species of Vasco, Barnard and Drummond (1978) (Amphipoda: Phoxocephalidae) from the Egyptian Red Sea Coast
Vasco has been assigned to the family Phoxocephalidae since 1978. To date, only the species V. brevidactylus (Ledoyer, 1973) has been recognized within this family, and it has been found in the reefs of Madagascar’s countryside. New amphipod specimens were collected during 2019-2020 from the soft bottom substrate of northern west coastal areas of the Red Sea (Egyptian coast). The collected materials closely resemble Vasco brevidactylus but differ in the following seven characteristics: urosomite 1 has three spines on the ventral lateral side, uropod 3 carries two long apical setae on the second article of the outer ramus, epimeron 2 has five sub-marginal bi-pectinate setae, the fourth article of the maxilliped lacks a mid-apical seta, the number of coxal setae on pereonite 1–3 is increased, the basal article of P1 and P2 has 2–3 long setae, and the mandible has six incisors. These differences are sufficient to distinguish between the species from Madagascar and the species from the Red Sea. A detailed description, fully illustrated material, and information on the occurrence and distribution of this species among the collection sites are provided.