Report on some species of Palaemonidae (Crustacea, Decapoda) from French Polynesia
Author
Li, Xinzheng
Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071 (China) lixzh @ ms. qdio. ac. cn
text
Zoosystema
2008
30
1
203
252
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.5390379
1638-9387
5390379
Pontonides loloata
Bruce, 2005
(
Fig. 28
)
Pontonides loloata
Bruce, 2005: 367
, figs 17-21.
MATERIAL
EXAMINED. —
Marquesas
Is.
Nuku Hiva, MUSORSTOM 9, stn CP 1177,
8°45.1’S
,
140°15’W
,
108-112 m
,
25.VIII.1997
, 1 ovig.
♀
(cl
2.29 mm
) (MNHN-Na 15619).
DISTRIBUTION. —
Type
locality:
Loloata I.
,
Hansa Bay
,
Papua New Guinea
.
Previously
also known from
Japan
(Izu Peninsula)
;
5-9 m
.
Not
previously recorded from
French Polynesia
.
Pontonides
has been found from shallow water less than
100 m
depth. The collection depth
108-112 m
of the present specimen represents the deepest bathymetric record not only for
Pontonides loloata
(reported previously from
5-9 m
depth in the
type
locality Loloata I.,
Papua New Guinea
[
Bruce 2005
], and about
30 m
[S. De Grave pers. comm.]), but also for the genus.
REMARKS
The specimen agrees well with the original description and illustrations. The pterygostomian lobe of the carapace is folded inwards on both sides of the carapace, forming a semi-closed “tube”, which is opened at the anterolateral margin of the carapace and extends posteriorly to the anterior fifth of the carapace length. The “mouth” of the “tube” looks like the pterygostomian notch present in
Pseudopontonides pricipes
(Criales, 1980)
, which is a key feature distinguishing
Pseudopontonides
from
Pontonides
(
Heard 1986
)
and other related genera. However, when the inward folding lobe is stretched, the anterolateral margin is only slightly concave, there is no real sinus such as the pterygostomian notch in
Pseudopontonides
.
Pontonides
can be readily distinguished from another close genus
Pseudocoutierea
Holthuis, 1951
which has also the pterygostomian sinus and been known from the East Pacific, the Carribean and the Eastern Atlantic, by pleurae of the third to fifth abdominal somites being broadly rounded (vs. produced into an elongate narrow process and ending in a sharp spine in the genus
Psudocoutierea
). Recently,
De Grave (2007)
published a new species of the latter genus,
Pseudocoutierea dotae
De Grave, 2007
, from the Carribean coast of
Panama
. It may easily differ from
Pontonides loloata
by the long rostrum and the rounded distolateral angle of the supraorbital eave (vs. the short rostrum and the blunt distolateral angle of the supraorbital eave in the latter), besides the different pleurae of the third to fifth abdominal somites.
A distinct antennal suture is present on the carapace below the antennal spine and extends posteriorly to the anterior fifth of the carapace length in
Pontonides loloata
.
Bruce (2005)
did not mention this suture in the original description and illustration. The lateral margin of the uropodal exopod only bears a minute medial mobile spine and no fixed distal tooth. The eggs are small, egg number is about 80- 100, maximum egg length is
0.43 mm
.