Melitapanda , a new species of Melitidae (Crustacea, Amphipoda) from Japan.

A new intertidal species of the melitid amphipod, Melitapanda , from the Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, is identified and described. Melitapanda sp. nov. differs from the similar M.koreana and M.nagatai by its black-and-white body color, well-developed anterodistal projection of the male gnathopod 1 propodus, and telson armature. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the nuclear 28S rRNA and mitochondrial COI genes support that M.panda sp. nov. is closely related to M.koreana and M.nagatai .
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Ko Tomikawa, Shigeyuki Yamato, Hiroyuki Ariyama.)