Collossella Jóżwiak & Błażewicz-Paszkowycz, 2007, n. gen.

Genus: Collossella n. gen.

Diagnosis (female): Carapace without rostrum, not excavated anteriorly, blunt. Antennule flagellum with two articles. Cheliped with exopodite; carpus twice as long as wide. Pereonite-1 twice as wide as long; other pereonites longer than wide, rounded laterally in dorsal view, with anterolateral spines and posterolateral rounded apophysis above pereopod coxae. Pereopod-1 without exopod. Pereopod-1 carpus and propodus with spiniform and simple setae. Pleopods present, well developed. Uropods short, half as long as pleotelson. Marsupium consisting of four pair of oostegites.

Type species: Collosella suprema n. sp.

Etymology: Collossus [Greek] = Large. The name referring to the strong calcification and large size of the type species (feminine).

Species included: Collossella bicornis (Kudinova- Pasternak, 1973), C. suprema n. sp.

Remarks: The presence of a coxal spine on pereopod–1 and the lack of the leaf-like seta on the endite of the maxilliped classify Collosella n. gen. within the subfamily Apseudinae. The combination of the characters listed in the diagnosis (carapace without rostrum, cheliped with exopodite, pereopod-1 without exopod, well developed pleopods in female and short uropods) distinguishes the new genus from the others within the subfamily.

A reduced rostrum is characteristic for the genus Fageapseudes erected by Bacescu & Gutu (1971) for Fageapseudes retusifrons (Richardson, 1912). Preadult females of this genus lack pleopods, although one pair of rudimentary pleopods is present on the last pleonites of the mature (ovigerous) stage. A further reduction in F. retusifrons is shown by this species having only one pair of oostegites. These two characters are not found in Collosella n. gen. in which just the preadult female has fully developed pleopods and four pairs of rudimentary oostegites. Furthermore Fageapseudes lacks exopods on both cheliped and pereopod-1, while the propodus and carpus of pereopod-1 are armed with spiniform setae only, with none of the regular setae present in Collosella. Lastly, the exopod of the antennule in Fageapseudes consists of four articles in contrast to the two articles found in Collosella.

Glabroapseudes includes at the moment two species, Glabroapseudes unicus recorded by Kudinova-Pasternak & Pasternak, 1981 from Bengal Bay and G. larseni Guerrero-Kommritz & Heard, 2003 from Angola Bay, considered as conspecific by Gutu (2006). This genus shares with Collossella the bi-articulated accessory flagellum of the antennule, the lack of a spine in the cheliped basis, one terminal robust spine (three in F. retusifrons) on the palp of the labium, and a slender epignath. Significantly, it differs from Collossella by the presence of an exopod on both the cheliped and pereopod-1, and the slender articles of pereopod-1, wide in Collossella.

Apseudes vitjazi Kudinova-Pasternak, 1970, from the North Pacific, is one more apseudids with reduced rostrum. However this species have an exopod on the cheliped and pereopod-1 and four-articulated outer flagellum in antennule.