The Chirostyloidea of the Northeastern Pacific: Host Associations, Range Extensions and a New Species (Decapoda: Anomura
Author
Wicksten, Mary K.
Department of Biology, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas 77834 - 3258 U. S. A.
Author
Conway, Kevin W.
Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology and Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas 77843 - 3258 U. S. A.
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-05-10
5284
1
167
176
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5284.1.7
journal article
54231
10.11646/zootaxa.5284.1.7
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1175-5326
7919091
BCB86C0D-28BE-4F34-B220-F05305DC946C
Sternostylus iaspis
(
Baba & Haig, 1990
)
and
Sternostylus perarmatus (
Haig, 1968
)
(
Figs. 5 A, B
)
Two other squat lobsters were photographed by ROV during the 2019–2020 cruises off southern
California
. Both can be distinguished from
U. nicoleae
sp. nov.
by their spinose carapaces.
Sternostylus iaspis
(
Baba & Haig, 1990
)
was photographed while living on the alcyonaceans
Paragorgia pacifica
Verrill, 1922
and
Acanthogorgia
sp.
at South Osborn Bank (
33°21’N
119°2’W
), and by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute at Big Sur Ridge (
Burton
et al.
2017
).
Sternostylus perarmatus
(
Haig, 1968
)
was photographed at Footprint Reef (
33° 54’N
,
111°51’W
, off Anacapa Island). These photographs show it living on the antipatharian
Antipathes dendrochristos
Opresko, 2005
. As many as eight of these squat lobsters could be seen per host.
Both were well within their recorded ranges:
A. iaspis
from Vancouver Island to Jasper Seamount,
Baja California
; and
S
.
perarmatus
from north of Anacapa Island, to Coronado Bank,
California
; and the northern Gulf of
California
(
Wicksten 2012
,
Hendrickx
et al.
2013
).
Hendrickx
et al.
(2013)
gave an extensive account of the habitat, behavior, and abundance of specimens of
S. perarmatus
(cited as
Gastroptychus perarmatus
) in the northern Gulf of
California
. The squat lobster lived as deep as
710 m
, among unidentified sponges and soft corals (probably
Callogorgia flabellum
(
Ehrenberg, 1834
, family
Primnoidae
). From 2 to eleven of these squat lobsters lived per colony. One photograph showed a squat lobster removing a large particle from the coral and taking it to its mouth. Video footage showed many large particles of debris in the area. The squat lobster may passively filter particles from the water and at the same time help the coral avoid being coated with debris.
Three additional species of
Sternostylus
have been collected in eastern Pacific.
Sternostylus defensus
(
Benedict, 1902
)
was described from the
Galapagos Islands
and has been collected at the Partida Seep off
Costa Rica
,
1052– 1075 m
(SIO-BIC C12804). The host was not reported but could have been an antipatharian or alcyonacean (Baba &
Wicksten 2020
).
Sternostylus cavimanus
Baba, 1977
has been reported from
Peru
and
Ecuador
; and
S. milneedwardsi
Henderson, 1885
at the extreme southern end of
Chile
and the Strait of Magellan. The host species of these other two squat lobsters were not recorded.
At present, 13 species of the
Chirostyloidea
have been reported from the eastern Pacific. The family
Chirostylidae
includes 5 species of
Uroptychus
and 2 species of
Heteroptychus
(Baba and
Wicksten 2020
)
. The family
Sternostylidae
includes 5 species of
Sternostylus
. The family
Eumunididae
is represented by
Eumunida subsolanus
Baba &
Wicksten, 2020
, recently described from off the
Galapagos Islands.