Revision of the family Chasmocarcinidae Serène, 1964 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Goneplacoidea)
Author
Ng, Peter K. L.
Author
Castro, Peter
text
Zootaxa
2016
4209
1
1
182
journal article
37321
10.11646/zootaxa.4209.1.1
2de5b7bf-3975-458a-b200-07ec69f4e013
1175-5326
272646
849BAB5C-464A-4B4A-A586-5742411EDC01
Subfamily
Megaesthesiinae
Števčić 2005
Subfamily
Megaesthesiinae
Števčić 2005
: 108
; 2013: 186.—Ng
et al.
2008: 27, 76.—
De Grave
et al.
2009
: 33
[in list].—
Davie
et al.
2015c
: 1082
.
Type genus
.
Megaesthesius
Rathbun, 1909
Other
genera included
:
Alainthesius
n. gen.
Diagnosis
. Minute size, carapace subquadrate, high. Eye peduncle conspicuously long, immobile, cornea long, eye reduced, eye pigmentation reduced. Antennule greatly enlarged (particularly in males), cannot be folded. Buccal cavern conspicuously arched, sunken. Chelae nearly equal in both sexes. Outer (ventral) surface of penis calcified, resembling plate between “supplementary plate”, sternite 8.
Remarks
. The structure of the penis and the calcified plate covering it is of interest. Like all chasmocarcinids, megaesthesiines possess a distinctive “supplementary plate” between thoracic sternites 7 and 8. This “plate” is an invagination of sternite 8, and in chasmocarcinids the elongated penis is positioned just below this plate and the rest of sternite 8. In megaesthesiines there is a wider space between the “supplementary plate” and the rest of sternite 8 where the penis sits, and most of the penis (except for the distal part) is surrounded by a calcified tube, with the upper part forming an elongated plate (
Fig. 19
W‒Y). This penis plate sits exactly in the space between the “supplementary plate” and the rest of sternite 8. In
Megaesthesius sagedae
,
Alainthesius signatus
n. sp.
and
A. bertrandi
n. sp.
, this penis plate does not move at all when the coxa of the fifth pereiopod (from which the penis emerges) is engaged and is effectively immobile, although the margins do not appear to be fused with the thoracic sternite (
Fig. 19
W‒Y). In
Megaesthesius migmus
n. sp.
, however, the penis plate is mobile (
Fig.
19
X). This is a feature that will need further study to determine if it is affected by growth or if it varies. The lack of additional male specimens of
Megaesthesius migmus
n. sp.
,
Alainthesius signatus
n. sp.
, and
A. bertrandi
n. sp.
(only one of each is known) poses limitations to study at present.