A new species of Naxia Latreille, 1825 (Brachyura: Majidae) from deep water off Brazil
Author
Poore, Gary C. B.
text
Zootaxa
2014
3861
1
journal volume
10.11646/zootaxa.3861.1.5
a5267205-b7b4-436c-8e6c-b6be2bb22695
1175-5326
230115
BBDD80D8-59DA-40BD-B50E-431A8648C0BC
Naxia
Latreille, 1825
Remarks.
Species of
Naxia
Latreille, 1825
, are immediately distinguished from most other majids by having the propodi of walking legs ventrally expanded near the distal margin. The carapace is bare or with a few small hairs between groups of strong curled hairs. A prehepatic spine is present.
Griffin & Tranter (1986)
and
Poore (2004)
diagnosed the genus and provided keys to the four species known previously.
The possession of laterally flattened and ventrally broadened propodi of pereopods 2–5 (walking legs) in
Naxia
is paralleled in
Trichoplatus huttoni
A. Milne-Edwards, 1876
,
type
species of the monotypic genus
Trichoplatus
and a member of
Inachidae
(
Griffin 1966: fig. 8
).
Richardson (1949: 63)
, based in part on the subchelate condition of the walking legs, transferred
Trichoplatus huttoni
to
Naxia
, a position that was followed by
Dell (1960)
.
Griffin (1966)
argued against the synonymy of
Trichoplatus
with
Naxia
.
Griffin & Tranter (1986: 61)
, however, followed
Bennett (1964: 33)
and resurrected
Trichoplatus
after concluding that
T. huttoni
is not related to
Naxia
from which it differs in the morphologies of the male first gonopod, orbits, third maxillipeds and male abdomen.
Included species
. The genera of the original combination are indicated within brackets.
Naxia aries
(H. Milne Edwards, 1834)
[
Halimus
];
N. aurita
(Latreille, 1825)
[
Pisa
] (
type
species by monotypy);
N. spinosa
(Hess, 1865)
[
Halimus
];
N. tumida
(Dana, 1851)
[
Halimus
];
Naxia atlantica
n. sp.
Distribution.
The species of
Naxia
are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere between 24°S and 42°S. Three of the five species only occur in southern
Australia
, one in southeastern
Australia
and at Kermadec Island north of
New Zealand
(
Poore 2004
) and the fifth in
Brazil
. The
Australia
and
New Zealand
records are from the low intertidal to about
108 m
, where the sea-surface temperature can get as low as 11.5°C.
Naxia atlantica
n. sp.
occurs in southeastern
Brazil
at depths greater than in
Australia
and
New Zealand
, with bottom temperatures ranging from 6°C to 18°C (
Esteves
et al
. 1988
;
Stramma 1999
).