Renomaera patricki gen. et sp. nov. (Amphipoda, Hadzioidea, Maeridae) described from the seamount in the western Pacific, with a test of monophyly of Maeridae Krapp-Schickel, 2008

A new genus, Renomaera gen. nov., belonging to the family Maeridae Krapp-Schickel, 2008, is erected for a new species, Renomaera patricki sp. nov., based on a specimen collected from seamounts near the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. Renomaera gen. nov. is unique within the family in having the following combination of characters: a mandible lacking a molar, the inner plate of maxilla 1 with only one apical seta, reduced inner and outer plates of the maxilliped, and the inner ramus of uropod 3 bearing long plumose setae.

Phylogenetic analyses based on one mitochondrial gene (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI )) and two nuclear genes (histone H 3 (H 3) and 28 S ribosomal RNA (28 S rRNA )), using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI), revealed that Maeridae is non-monophyletic and that the Maera clade is also non-monophyletic.