Alienaxiopsis clypeata (De Man, 1888 )

Poore, Gary C. B., 2018, Burrowing lobsters mostly from shallow coastal environments in Papua New Guinea (Crustacea: Axiidea: Axiidae, Micheleidae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 77, pp. 1-14 : 2

Alienaxiopsis clypeata (De Man, 1888)

Figs 1a, b , 3

Axius clypeatus De Man, 1888: 470 , pl. 20 fig. 2.

Axiopsis (Axiopsis) clypeata .— De Man, 1925: 70.

Allaxius clypeatus .— Sakai and de Saint Laurent, 1989: 73–74.— Poore and Collins, 2009: 237.

Alienaxiopsis lizardensis Sakai, 2011: 34–36 , fig. 2. Syn. nov.

Material examined. Papua New Guinea. Madang Province. PAPUA NIUGINI stations. Tab I., 05° 09.9' S, 145° 50.4' E, 20 m (stn PB06 ), IU-2013-7096 (ovigerous female, 3.4 mm) .

New Ireland Province, Kavieng lagoon, KAVIENG 2014 stations. E side of Ral I., 02°36.7'S, 150° 42.6' E, 3–10 m ( KZ22 ), IU-2014-1142 (ovigerous female, 2.5 mm; male, 4.2 mm). Mouth of Albatross Passage , E side, 02° 35.2' S, 150° 43.1' E, 13 m (KB72), NMV J71641 (female, 4.2 mm) . New Ireland mainland, N coast, 02° 35.2' S, 150° 50.3' E, 17 m (KB66), IU-2016-8134 (female, 3.5 mm) .

Australia. Queensland, Great Barrier Reef, Yonge Reef, near Lizard I., 14° 38' S, 145° 38' E, AM P.25014 (holotype of Alienaxiopsis lizardensis , male, 4.7 mm) .

Photographed specimens not seen. Papua New Guinea. Madang Province. PAPUA NIUGINI stations: location not specified, 15 m (stn PR89), 1 specimen. Kranket I., 05° 12' S, 145° 48.8' E (stn PR86), 2 ovigerous females .

Type locality. Ambon, Indonesia.

Supplementary description. Rostrum acute, depressed, 0.3 length of rostral base–cervical groove, with pair of erect lateral spines at midpoint and larger pair at base. Median gastric carina obsolete, with 1 tooth, ending in broad triangular plate; submedian gastric carina obsolete, with 2 erect teeth; supraocular spine oblique, not marginal; lateral gastric carina obsolete, with 1 erect tooth. Eyestalk reaching end of rostrum. Antenna article 2 with broadly triangular distal spine; scaphocerite 5 times as long as greatest height (lateral view), reaching to midpoint of article 5. Major cheliped ischium, merus and carpus each with minute distal tooth on lower margin; propodus swollen, upper margin 1.35 times greatest height, carinate, with distal tooth; fixed finger 0.5 times length of upper margin of propodus, with blunt distal tooth near tip of cutting edge; dactylus 2.3 times as long as wide, cutting edge with 2 low rounded teeth in proximal half. Minor cheliped as long as major cheliped, propodus about 0.75 times as high as on major cheliped; ischium and merus each with minute distal tooth on lower margin; propodus swollen, upper margin 1.2 times greatest height, carinate, with distal tooth; fixed finger as long as upper margin of propodus, with distal tooth on cutting edge; dactylus 3.2 times as long as wide, cutting edge smooth. Telson 1.1 times as wide as long at level of most anterior lateral teeth; distal margin 0.5 times telson greatest width; lateral margin with 4 teeth; distal margin convex, with 1 or 2 lateral articulating robust setae, with median spine; face with 2 pairs of spines. Uropodal endopod twice as long as wide; anterior margin strongly lobed proximally (as rounded shoulder), otherwise concave with strong tooth at midpoint and elevated distal spine; posterior margin convex, unarmed; distal margin straight, oblique, with strong elevated spine at anterior end, smaller spine at posterior end; facial rib with 3 spines. Uropodal exopod oval, twice as long as wide; anterior margin of article 1 with 4 teeth; posterior margin convex; distal margin irregular, 3 marginal spines, stronger spine defining posterior corner, strong articulating spine near anterior corner; article 2 oval, with distal spine almost as long as body of article.

Colour. Translucent with bright red band anteriorly and dorsolaterally on carapace, dorsolaterally on pleon, and on upper margins of cheliped carpus and propodus; maxilliped 3 bright red; cheliped fingers white.

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific ( Guam, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Fiji); to 20 m depth.

Remarks. De Man’s (1888) description was extensive but his drawings few. Here, colour photographs and figures of the carapace, pereopods 1 and tail fan are included.

Sakai (2011) based a new species Alienaxiopsis lizardensis on the specimen from Lizard I., Great Barrier Reef, Australia ( AM P.25014) that was examined and identified by Poore and Collins (2009) as Allaxius clypeatus . Sakai listed Poore and Collins’ record under the synonymy and distribution of both species. This specimen has been re-examined and redrawn; no differences in the gastric ornamentation (characters alleged to differentiate the two) could be detected between it, material from Papua New Guinea or De Man’s (1888) figures. Sakai’s (2011: fig. 2B) figure of the dorsal carapace is quite misleading. Alienaxiopsis lizardensis is here synonymised with A. clypeata .

Until now, Alienaxiopsis clypeata was known only from Ambon, Indonesia (type locality), Guam and Fiji ( Kensley, 2003), but is here recorded from Papua New Guinea. The record from Fiji is based on unpublished data from the USNM online database http://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/iz/).

Figures

Figure 1. Alienaxiopsis clypeata (De Man, 1888): a, b, MNHN unregistered (stn PR86). Allaxiopsis picteti (Zehntner, 1894): c, MNHN IU-2013- 1209. Axiopsis pica Kensley, 2003, MNHN IU-2013-7048: d, preserved; e, living. Axiopsis serratifrons A. Milne-Edwards, 1873: f, MNHN IU-2013-638; g, h, MNHN IU-2013-7052; i, MNHN IU-2013-7046; j, MNHN IU-2013-302. Photo credits: AA, a–c, e, g–j; TYC, f; GCBP, d.

Figure 3. Alienaxiopsis clypeata (De Man, 1888), male, MNHN IU-2016-8134: a, b, anterior carapace, dorsal and lateral views; c, telson and uropod; d, major left cheliped; e, minor right cheliped. Scale bar = 1 mm.