Telsosynopia Karaman, 1986

J. L. Barnard (1972) discussed the genus Synopia and suggested that S. variabilis might warrant its own genus based on the entire telson. Karaman (1986) took the opportunity to erect the subgenus Synopia (Telsosynopia) following the work by Andres (1984) who described two additional species of Synopia, S. triangula and S. rotunda, with entire telsons. The subgenus Synopia (Synopia) was also established for the remaining Synopia species with cleft telsons. Karaman (1986) designated Synopia variabilis Spandl, 1923 as the type­species for S. (Telsosynopia), and defined the subgenus as “with characters of the genus Synopia except, telson entire and mandibular (sic) more or less triturative”. This subgenus, however, went unnoticed by later workers discussing Synopia with entire telsons. Barnard & Thomas (1989) reassessed the molar of T. variablis (as S. variabilis) as triturative. Ortiz & Lalana (1997) described S. paravariabilis, a fourth species of Synopia with an entire telson.

Telsosynopia Karaman, 1986 is elevated to generic rank here, based on the entire telson. The mandibular molar “more or less triturative”, originally used to help diagnose the subgenus Telsosynopia, is ineffective in separating Synopia from Telsosynopia because all species are now known to have a triturative molar.