A new species of Laomedia (Crustacea, Thalassinidea, Laomediidae) from Australia with notes on its Ecology

Laomedia barronensis n.sp. from northern Queensland is compared with the sympatric L. healyi Yaldwyn et Wear, 1970 known from eastern and south-eastern Australia, and L. astacina de Haan, 1841 from Japanese, Korean and Chinese waters. L. barronensis differs from the two other described species of Laomedia in having antennular and antennal peduncles subequal in length, and in lacking both postocular spine and a spine below the linea thalassinica. The holotype and single known specimen of L. barronensis, an ovigerous female, was dug from above low tide level at a depth of about 1.5 m, in a moist Sesarma crab burrow system in the muddy banks of the Barron River, near Cairns, Queensland. That part of the burrow system would have been submerged at high tide.