Two New Species Of Parathelphusa H. Milne Edwards, 1853, From The Philippines (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Parathelphusidae)
Author
Freitag, Hendrik
Author
Yeo, Darren C. J.
text
Raffles Bulletin of Zoology
2004
52
1
227
237
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.13244564
2345-7600
13244564
Parathelphusa manguao
,
new species
(
Figs. 5-8
)
Material examined. –
Holotype
– male (21.9 by
18.2 mm
) (
PNM 17283
),
Lake
Manguao, Municipality
of
Taytay
, coll.
S. Schoppe
(
SPCP-ASTD
),
21 Nov.2001
.
Paratypes
–
1 female
(26.6 by
22.3 mm
) (
SPCP-ASTD
)
,
1 male
(16.6 by
14.3 mm
) (
SPCP-ASTD
)
,
1 female
(16.4 by
14.2 mm
) (
ZIH
)
,
1juvenile
male (13.8 by
12.3 mm
) (
ZIH
)
,
1 juvenile
female (15.6 by
13.5 mm
),
1 juvenile
male (13.2 by
11.4 mm
) (
ZRC2004.0623
)
,
1 juvenile
female (15.3 by
13.1 mm
) (
PNM 17283
)
,
same data as holotype
.
Others (designated for ecological studies) –
4 juvenile
females (largest 14.3 by
12.5 mm
) (
SPCP-ASTD
), same data as holotype
.
Diagnosis. –
Carapace low, dorsal surface gently convex; postorbital cristae strongly developed, sinuous, with lateral part strongly arched in adults; cervical grooves shallow but distinct; epibranchial teeth well developed, sharp, directed forwards. Merus of ambulatory legs with well developed subdistal spine on dorsal margin. Male sixth abdominal segment relatively stout, longer than telson (segment 7). G1 gently but distinctly bent outwards at the middle, slender, with upper half of proximal part subequal in width to distal part; tip truncate, broad, with slight subdistal swelling.
Etymology. –
The species is named for the
type
locality, Lake Manguao, (Municipality of Taytay, northern
Palawan
). The name is used as a name in apposition.
Colour. –
In life, dorsal carapace dark brown, and slightly spotted; legs dark brown with a cross pattern of lighter brown; ventral parts (sternum and abdomen) dirty-white colour; fingers of the chelipeds dark reddish brown, except for the lighter coloured fingertips (S. Schoppe, pers. comm). All preserved
type
specimens in alcohol with similar coloration, probably due to initial preservation in formalin.
Fig. 5.
Parathelphusa manguao
,
new species
. Holotype male (21.9 by 18.2 mm) (PNM 17283). A, dorsal view of carapace; B, frontal view of carapace; C, right fourth ambulatory merus; D, right third ambulatory merus; E, right chela; F, abdominal segments 5-7. Scales = 10.0 mm.
Fig. 6.
Parathelphusa manguao
,
new species
, left G1. A-D, holotype male (21.9 by 18.2 mm) (PNM 17283); E-H, paratype juvenile male (13.8 by 12.3 mm) (ZIH). A, E, ventral view; B, F, dorsal view; C, G, ventral view of distal part; D, H, dorsal view of distal part. Scales = 1.0 mm.
Remarks. –
Among the Philippine freshwater crab fauna,
P. manguao
may be confused with
P. palawanensis
(
Bott, 1969
)
,
P. saginata
Ng & Takeda, 1993
,
P. mindoro
Ng & Takeda, 1993
, or
P. cabayugan
,
new species
, by virtue of its sharp and well-developed epibranchial teeth. The form of the G1 of
P. manguao
also superficially resembles that of
P. rasilis
Ng & Takeda, 1993
, and
P. ovum
Ng, 1994
[
Sabah
, Borneo]. However, the very slender overall form of the G1 immediately distinguishes
P. manguao
from all the above species. While the G1 of
P. saginata
is also relatively slender in appearance when compared with its other congeners, that of
P. manguao
is still more slender, more strongly bent, and has a truncate tip (versus sharp tip)(
Fig. 6
; cf. Ng & Takeda, 1993:
Fig. 4
). Furthermore, the ambulatory legs of
P. manguao
possess a well developed subdistal spine on the dorsal margin (versus subdistal spine absent in
P. saginata
) (
Figs. 5C, D
,
8A, B
; cf. Ng & Takeda, 1993:
Fig. 4
). In addition to these, other small specific differences in the G1 as well as differences in external characters such as the strongly arched lateral part of the postorbital cristae combine to give a diagnostic suite of characters for the species (see Tables 1A, B).
While juvenile specimens also have sharp, well-developed epibranchial teeth (
Fig. 8A
), the condition of the postorbital cristae mentioned above is seen only in adults of
P. manguao
.
Ecological notes. –
The
type
specimens of
P. manguao
were caught at the northern littoral of Lake Manguao (
10 45’27”N
,
119 33’30” E
) among stony substrate.
Parathelphusa
species
have also been observed from many other parts of the lake (S. Schoppe, pers. comm.). The authors have not had the opportunity to examine these other specimens; however, bearing in mind the highly restricted distributions of most Philippine
Parathelphusa
species
(present study; Ng & Takeda, 1993), it is likely that they are also
P. manguao
.
The banks of Lake Manguao are dominated by rock, rarely grit and sand. Physico-chemical data for
April 1989
are provided by Davies & Green (1990), and for
21-22 November 2001
from a survey conducted by the SPCP Aquatic Science & Technology Department. Water temperature ranged from 26.4 C to 30.5 C in 1989, and around 26.8 C in 2001. The water was slightly alkaline, with the pH varying from 8.1 to 8.86 (Davies & Green, 1990), and 7.44 to 7.77 at the surface slightly decreasing towards bottom to a minimum of 6.79 (SPCP-ASTD). Dissolved oxygen (DO) was found between
9.5 mg
/lª 127% saturation (morning, water surface) and
6.3 mg
/lª 79% saturation (early night, water surface) in the Davies & Green (1990) study. Values of the second study were
5.2 mg
/l to
8.7 mg
/l. From both studies, no substantial variations in DO were reported between surface and bottom layers indicating good vertical circulation. Conductivity was reported to be 43 S/cm (Davies & Green, 1990) and 55 S/ cm to 79 S/cm (SPCP-ASTD).