Lamoha longipes ( Alcock & Anderson, 1899 )

Forges, Bertrand Richer De & Ng, Peter K. L., 2008, New western Pacific records of Homolidae De Haan, 1839, with descriptions of new species of Homolochunia Doflein, 1904, and Latreillopsis Henderson, 1888 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura), Zootaxa 1967, pp. 1-35 : 20

Lamoha longipes ( Alcock & Anderson, 1899)

( Figs. 16A, C, 22A)

Hypsophrys longipes Alcock & Anderson, 1899: 6 . — Alcock 1899: 15, pl. 1, fig. 1. — Alcock 1900: 164. — Alcock 1901: 69, pl. 6, fig. 25. — Doflein 1904: 17, 145, pl. 11, fig. 1–2, pl. 50, fig. 4, pl. 51, fig. 1, pl. 52, fig. 1–5. — Gordon 1950: 242, fig. 21. — Serène & Lohavanijaya 1973: 30. — Williams 1974: 485, fig. 8. — Williams 1976: 889.

Lamoha longipes — Ng, 1998a: 121. — Ng et al. 2008: 40.

Material examined. Solomon Islands: SALOMONBOA, stn. CP 2785, 8°33.09’S 160°41.5’E, 420–602 m, 14 September 2007: 1 male (20.1 x 17.0 mm) ( MNHN-B31294 ) .

Remarks. This species was described from the Investigator in the Arabian Sea. The morphology of the present specimen fits well with the descriptions and figures of Alcock & Anderson (1899) and Alcock (1899, 1900, 1901) and we can find no major morphological differences despite the geographical distances involved. Serène & Lohavanijaya (1973) had previously reported this species from the South China Sea. The only difference between the present specimen from Solomon Islands and the type description concerns the black spot on the chelae. The male specimen from the Solomon Islands has a long dark spot joining the pigmented parts of the fingers. Alcock & Anderson (1899) and Alcock (1899, 1900, 1901) did not mention any spot on the chela of the specimen they described.

Lamoha longipes is superficially similar to L. murotoensis ( Figs. 16B, D) but has a different carapace armature and pereiopod structure. It can also be distinguished from L. longirostris and L. superciliosa by two distinct characters: its rostrum is bifid and the P5 merus has a series of spines on its inferior border. Lamoha longipes is close to L. hystrix Ng, 1998 , described from the Phoenix Is., Kiribati, in the central Pacific close to the equator, but it is easily distinguished by the following characters: the inferior border of the P5 merus has only five spines in place of nine in L. hystrix ; the gastric area is relatively less spiny than in L. hystrix ; and the posterolateral border is marked by a series of small granules in L. longipes (a line of spines in L. hystrix ) (see Ng 1998b).