New species of squat lobsters of the genus Munida from Australia
Author
McCallum, Anna W.
Author
Ahyong, Shane T.
Author
Andreakis, Nikos
text
Memoirs of Museum Victoria
2021
2021-12-31
80
113
152
http://dx.doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2021.80.06
journal article
10.24199/j.mmv.2021.80.06
1447-2554
12214129
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EA21667A-77A5-411D-9C1A-23ECFFF3D505
Munida leagora
Macpherson, 1994
.
Figure 19B–D
Munida leagora
Macpherson, 1994: 485
, figs 26, 76 (
type
locality:
New Caledonia
). —
Baba et al., 2008: 104
.
Material examined.
Western Australia
:
NMV
J56004
,
1
ovigerous female (cl
13.8 mm
, pcl
8.1 mm
),
1 male
(cl 13.0 mm, pcl 8.0 mm),
Leveque L
27,
14° 58.362' S
,
121° 38.556' E
to
14° 57.762' S
,
121° 39.264' E
,
228–232 m
, SS05/2007/143,
2 July 2007
;
NMV
J55999
,
5 males
(cl
15.7 mm
, pcl
9.5 mm
to cl
20.2 mm
, pcl
12.3 mm
),
1 male
with bopyrid (cl
14.9 mm
, pcl
8.6 mm
), 1 ovigerous female (cl
16.5 mm
, pcl
10.2 mm
), SS05/2007/143
;
NMV
J56018
,
1 juvenile
(cl
12.2 mm
, pcl
7.5 mm
),
Mermaid L
24 east transect,
17° 02.838' S
,
119° 39.684' E
to
17° 03.708' S
,
119° 41.358' E
,
424–456 m
, SS05/2007/77,
18 June 2007
.
Colour.
Carapace and abdominal somites 2–4 pale orange, somites 5–6 and telson white. Rostrum and supraocular spines pale orange. P1 and P2–4 meri with orange spots at base of spines and on striae.
Genetic data.
COI and 16S; see
Table 1
.
Remarks.
Munida leagora
was described from
New Caledonia
, and the present specimens represent the first records of the species from
Australia
. Our specimens show some minor variation compared to the type description, including the presence of 1 or 2 small spines on the lateral margins of the anterior ridge of abdominal somite 2, and the presence of parahepatic spines in some specimens.
Munida leagora
is very similar to
Munida alia
Baba, 1994
, described from a single specimen in
Queensland
. We compared our specimens of
M. leagora
to the
holotype
of
M. alia
and confirmed that these species are distinct. In
Baba’s (2005)
key to
Munida
,
these two species are separated by the length of the distomesial spine of antennal article 1, which reaches the end of article
2 in
M. alia
and reaches or overreaches the distal end of article
3 in
M. leagora
.
In addition,
M. alia
lacks a pair of postcervical spines, which are always present in our specimens of
M. leagora
.
Divergence in COI sequences between specimens of
M. leagora
from north-western
Australia
and
New Caledonia
is <0.5%. The wide transverse yellow and purple bands on the carapace described for New Caledonian specimens are absent in all the specimens examined here.
Distribution.
New Caledonia
,
Loyalty Islands
, Chesterfield Islands,
Vanuatu
, Bayonnaise Bank,
Fiji
and
Tonga
,
240–
610 m
. North-west
Australia
,
232–
456 m
.