Thalamita gatavakensis Nobili, 1906

Padate, Vinay P., Periasamy, Rengaiyan, Rivonker, Chandrashekher U. & Ingole, Baban S., 2023, Coral reef-associated brachyuran fauna (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from Angria Bank off the west coast of India, Zootaxa 5357 (3), pp. 398-422 : 407-408

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5357.3.4
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:75944208-37BF-484C-9917-F9376027C31E
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10066335
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03BC5738-FF91-EE4D-E7EE-CA3BFE0B866C
treatment provided by	Plazi (2023-10-20 07:30:53, last updated 2024-11-27 01:22:27)
scientific name	Thalamita gatavakensis Nobili, 1906
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Thalamita gatavakensis Nobili, 1906 View in CoL

( Fig. 4E–H View FIGURE 4 )

Thalamita pilumnoides var. gatavakensis Nobili, 1906b: 262 View in CoL , figs. 30a–b, 31a–e (type locality: Gatavaké , French Polynesia).

Thalamita pilumnoides ssp. gatavakensis View in CoL .— Forest & Guinot 1961: 34, figs. 22a–b, 23–25.

Thalamita gatavakensis View in CoL .— Crosnier 1962: 106, figs. 177a–d.— Stephenson & Rees 1967: 75.— Stephenson 1972a: 149.— Stephenson 1972b: 20 (key), 47.— Wee & Ng 1995: 82, figs. 43a–d.— Stephenson 1976: 21.

Thalamita granosimana View in CoL .— Stephenson 1961: 119, figs. 2E, 4A, pl. 3, fig. 4, pls. 4J, 5G. [Not T. granosimana Borradaile, 1903 View in CoL )]

Material examined. 2 males (5.1 × 3.1 mm, 5.7 × 3.4 mm) ( NIO /BOD/AB/BRY/00011), RVSS 11 , west of Vijaydurg , Arabian Sea, 16.62°N, 72.01°E, 24 m depth, Van Veen grab, coll. R. Periasamy, 8 January 2014 GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. Carapace hexagonal, tomentose ( Fig. 4E View FIGURE 4 ); frontal margin bilobed, internal orbital angles narrower than frontal lobes; carapace ridges including 1 pair each of frontals, protogastrics, mesogastrics, mesobranchials and epibranchials, median metagastric and cardiac ridges; anterolateral margins divided into 5 teeth, fourth tooth rudimentary ( Fig. 4F View FIGURE 4 ). Basal antennal article with 8 tubercles ( Fig. 4G View FIGURE 4 ). Cheliped merus with 3 spines on anterior margin; manus with 6 spines on dorsal surface ( Fig. 4E View FIGURE 4 ). G1 distal tip recurved spoon-shaped, with spine on spoonedtip, inner surface with long backwardly directed spine and inner surface with 3–4 bristles ( Fig. 4H View FIGURE 4 ).

Colouration. Fresh specimen: carapace reddish brown with yellowish speckles ( Fig. 4E View FIGURE 4 ). Preserved specimen: brown with lighter setae ( Fig. 4F View FIGURE 4 ).

Biology. Known to inhabit corals ( Wee & Ng 1995) in intertidal coralline sand ( Crosnier 1962) and lagoons ( Forest & Guinot 1961); 20–24 m ( Wee & Ng 1995; present study). The present specimens were collected from sandy substratum, at 24 m depth, covered with macroalgae.

Remarks. Nobili (1906b) provided a short description of a new variety ( gatavakensis ) of T. pilumnoides from French Polynesia. Forest & Guinot (1961) compared T. pilumnoides gatavakensis with T. pilumnoides and proposed its elevation to species level. Crosnier (1962) provided a short, illustrated description of T. gatavakensis and elevated it to species level based on the differences (with T. pilumnoides ) in morphologies of male pleon and G1. Stephenson’s (1972b) key to the Indo-West Pacific portunids grouped this species along with T. iranica Stephensen, 1946 , T. granosimana Borradaile, 1902 , T. admete (Herbst, 1803) , T. auauensis Rathbun, 1906 and T. gloriensis Crosnier, 1962 owing to G1 with moderately curved tip. This species differs from the above-mentioned congeners in having G1 with curved distal tip bearing very few setae. Wee & Ng (1995) provided a short, illustrated description of T. gatavakensis . The morphology of the present specimens conformed to the descriptions and illustrations provided by Crosnier (1962) and Wee & Ng (1995) in the bilobed frontal margin of carapace, the presence of cardiac ridge and mesobranchial ridges in addition to 1 pair each of frontal, protogastric, mesogastric, metagastric and epibranchial ridges, a straight inner supraorbital lobe narrower than the frontal lobe, and a spoon-shaped, recurved distal tip of G1 bearing very few terminal bristles.

Geographical distribution. Madagascar, Seychelles, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Western Australia, Saipan, Tuamotu ( Wee & Ng 1995); eastern Arabian Sea off India (present study). The present observation is the first record from Indian waters.

References

Crosnier, A. (1962) Crustaces Decapodes Portunidae. Faune de Madagascar, 16, 1 - 154.

Forest, J. & Guinot, D. (1961) Crustaces Decapodes Brachyoures de Tahiti et des Tuamotu. In: Expedition Francais sur les Recifs Coralliens de la Nouvelle-Caledonie. Volume Preliminaire. Editions de la Fondation Singer Polignac, Paris, pp. 1 - 195, 18 pls., 3 tabs., 7 charts.

Nobili, G. (1906 b) Diagnoses preliminaires de crustaces, decapodes et isopodes nouveaux receuillis par M. le Dr G. Seurat aux iles Touamotou. Bulletin du Museum d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, Serie 1, 12 (5), 256 - 270. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. part. 4097

Rathbun, M. J. (1906) The Brachyura and Macrura of the Hawaiian Islands. Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, 23 (3), 827 - 930, 24 pls.

Stephenson, W. (1961) The Australian portunids (Crustacea: Portunidae). V. The recent collections. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 12, 92 - 128, 5 pls. https: // doi. org / 10.1071 / MF 9610092

Stephenson, W. & Rees, M. (1967) Some portunid crabs from the Pacific and Indian Oceans in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 120 (3556), 1 - 114, 38 figs., 9 pls. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00963801.120 - 3556.1

Stephenson, W. (1972 a) Portunid crabs from the Indo-West-Pacific and Western America in the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen (Decapoda, Brachyura, Portunidae). Steenstrupia, 2 (9), 127 - 156.

Stephenson, W. (1972 b) An annotated check list and key to the Indo-West-Pacific swimming crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Portunidae). Bulletin of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 10, 1 - 64.

Stephenson, W. (1976) Notes on Indo-West-Pacific portunids (Decapoda, Portunidae) in the Smithsonian Institution. Crustaceana, 31 (1), 11 - 26. https: // doi. org / 10.1163 / 156854076 X 00738

Wee, D. P. C. & Ng, P. K. L. (1995) Swimming crabs of the genera Charybdis de Haan, 1833, and Thalamita Latreille, 1829 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Portunidae) from Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 1, 1 - 128.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Xiphonectes macrophthalmus (Rathbun, 1906), female (NIO/BOD/AB/BRY/00010, 6.0 × 2.9 mm), eastern Arabian Sea, India: (A) dorsal habitus (fresh colour); (B) carapace, dorsal view; (C) cephalothorax, ventral view; (D) right cheliped, dorsal view. Thalamita gatavakensis Nobili, 1906, male (NIO/BOD/AB/BRY/00011, 5.7 × 3.4 mm), eastern Arabian Sea, India: (E) dorsal habitus (fresh colour); (F) carapace, dorsal view; (G) cephalothorax, ventral view; (H) G1 distal portion, pleonal view. Scale bars: A–G, 1 mm, H, 0.5 mm.