Ebalia nudipes Sakai, 1963

Shih, Yi-Jia, Ho, Ping-Ho & Chan, Tin-Yam, 2015, Leucosiid crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from Taiwan, with three new records, Zootaxa 4052 (1), pp. 127-134 : 127-128

Ebalia nudipes Sakai, 1963

( Figs. 1A , 2 )

Material examined. Southwestern Taiwan: 1 male, 11.8× 12.1 mm, ZRC 2015.277, TAIWAN 2000 stn CP35, 22o01.8’N, 120o36.5’E, 228– 222 m, coll. T.-Y. Chan, 31 Jul. 2000.

Diagnosis. Carapace subrhombus, globular, naked, slightly longer than broad; surface finely granulate; regions well defined, separated by grooves; front slightly bilobed; 3 tubercles on gastro-cardiac region; numerous tubercles on branchial region, arranged circle; hepatic, branchial, intestinal regions prominently swollen; middle of anterolateral margin present a small tubercle; posterior margin bilobed.

Eyes small; antennule large, folded in fossa; antennular flagella very small. Third maxilliped finely granulate; exopod slightly shorter than endopod; merus of endopod curved, subtriangular, shorter than ischium. Chelipeds subequal, stout, finely granulate; chelipeds merus trigonal; carpus, palm rounded, swollen; fingers upcurved, as long as palm. Pereiopods slender, short, finely granulate except for dactylus; dactylus tomentose.

Male abdominal somites 3-6 fused. G1 slender, margin with few setae, distal part slightly curving, tip relatively broad, with small inner terminal pore. G2 much shorten than G1, slender, flat, flexible, swollen in the middle. ( Fig. 2 ).

Remarks. The species is known from two specimens collected in Tosa Bay and Irozaka, Japan ( Yokoya 1933 [as E. jordani ]; Sakai 1963, 1976). It differs from E. jordani Rathbun, 1906 , collected in Hawaii, in its nude carapace, placement of tubercles on dorsal surface of carapace, and its barely bilobed frontal margin. The characters of the present specimen agree very well with the detailed description and figures by Sakai (1963, 1976) and we have no doubt they are conspecific. Sakai (1963: 216) observed that “the first male pleopod is the best character for distinguishing the two species, the tip being thin and rather broad”. G1 is figured here for the first time ( Fig. 2 ).

The present record was obtained from deeper water (222–228 m) than in Japan (100–187 m) ( Yokoya 1933; Sakai 1963).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Ebalia nudipes Sakai, 1963 (male, 11.8 × 12.1 mm, ZRC 2015.277): A – B, two side of left G 1; C, dorsal view of

FIGURE 1. A, Ebalia nudipes Sakai, 1963 (male, 11.8 × 12.1 mm, ZRC 2015.277); B, Galilia petricola Komai & Tsuchida, 2014 (male, 25.4 × 28.2 mm, NTOU – DW 4095); C, Nursia rhomboidalis (Miers, 1879) (female, 18.8 × 13.9 mm, NMNS – L 19930529); D, Myra fugax (Fabricius, 1798) (male, 26.2 × 35.7 mm, NTOU – L 20140424).