Introduction to the Asellota (Isopoda)

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How did the Asellota become so diverse? The suborder Asellota is the most diverse group of the Isopoda, both at the family level and the species level. Numerically, the Asellota dominate deep-sea crustacean faunas (Wilson, 1989; Poore & Wilson, 1993). A phylogeny of the isopods (Brusca & Wilson, 1991) shows that they evolved early in the phylogenetic radiation of the entire order. As a consequence, cryptic groups living in the Indo-West Pacific tropics and in Australian fresh waters may bear clues to this early phylogenetic diversification. How the deep-sea was colonised during the Palaeozoic may become clearer with such information. Understanding asellotan phylogeny will also reveal general patterns and processes of evolution in the deep sea and elsewhere. A selection of deep-sea Asellota

Plans for the Asellota.

  • General identification guides for the Asellota are being prepared. An illustrated key to Australian shallow water isopod families is now available from the Australian Museum. A interactive key to the familes and genera of the Asellota is planned. This key will be based on a DELTA database.
  • Many poorly described types are being re-illustrated and particular groups are being monographically treated. A revision of the genera of the Paramunnidae with Jean Just and the genus Haplomesus with Fiona Kavanagh are recent projects.
  • Reviews of the deep-sea familes are in progress, similar to papers on the Janiridae, the Haplomunnidae (PDF), Ischnomesidae and the Nannoniscidae (PDF). Current projects include the families Ischnomesidae, Haploniscidae, Mesosignidae and Mictosomatidae.
  • I am actively seeking students and colleagues who want to work on the collection at the Australian Museum. If you have an interest in asellotan research, please contact me. Current collaborators include Marina Cunha (Portugal), Fiona Kavanagh (Ireland), Karen Osborn (USA), and Jean Just (Denmark).
 Aspidoniscus

Asellota collection. An isopod collection held at the Australian Museum comprises approximately 150,000 specimens from the deep Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and from Australian shallow water regions. All marine familes are represented and the global coverage is growing as I obtain more collections from other regions of the world. Currently I am studying new specimens from the Gulf of Mexico (images shown on this page) and the Arafura Sea. The Asellota collection at the Australian Museum includes paratype specimens from research done at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Inquiries may be made on the availability of specimens for research projects.
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