Discussion

The specimen described above, a slightly damaged male from Cook Strait, agrees closely with Barnard's description; it differs from his figures only in that the telson has but one spine on the median surface, a condition intermediate between that which he figures and that which he describes for larger specimens (8 to 9 mm.) from a different station, which show no sign of the spines.

The inclusion of Phoxus batei in the synonymy is perhaps unexpected. Pirlot (1932) excluded it from Haswell's Phoxus batei and included it under “species insufficiently known” as possibly a synonym of “Parharpinia villosa auctorum”. I was unable to find any material which I considered corresponded to Thomson's specimens, and none so labelled, but providentially came across Thomson's original drawings for his paper. Only about half of these were published, and comparison with Barnard's and my own leaves no doubt whatsoever that Thomson's Phoxus batei is indeed Pontharpinia australis This was further confirmed by finding in a tube of “Phoxocephalus bassi” a number of Pontharpinia australis from Otago Harbour, suggesting the species is not uncommon around New Zealand. It has now been recorded, literally, from “North Cape to the Bluff”.

Barnard's specific name australis is retained because, although Thomson's batei (not synonymous with Haswell's Phoxus batei, fide Pirlot, 1932) has priority, Haswell's P. batei is considered by Pirlot synonymous with Pontharpinia