Rochinia mosaica ( Whitelegge, 1900 )

Forges, Bertrand Richer de & Poore, Gary C. B., 2008, Deep-sea majoid crabs of the genera Oxypleurodon and Rochinia (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Epialtidae) mostly from the continental margin of Western Australia, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 65, pp. 63-70 : 68

Rochinia mosaica ( Whitelegge, 1900)

Pugettia mosaica Whitelegge, 1900: 141 , pl. 35 figs 5–7.

Doclea profunda Rathbun, 1918: 16 , pl. 7 figs 1, 2.— Hale, 1927: 134, fig. 134.

Rochinia mosaica .— Griffin and Tranter, 1986a: 185, figs 58, 62e, f.— Griffin and Tranter, 1986b: 363.— Poore, 2004: 387.— Ng and Richer de Forges, 2007: 62.

Material examined. Australia. Tas. Eastern Bass Strait , 100 km NE of North Point, Flinders I. (38°52.36'S, 148°25.12'E), 140 m, 15 Nov 1981 (stn BSS 170 S), NMV J4731 (female 9.3 x 6.6 mm).Vic. Eastern Bass Strait, S of Waratah Bay (38°59.54'S, 146°00'E), 64 m, 26 Nov 1973 (stn K7-73-63), NMV J12157 (2 males 13.2 x 9.4 mm, 12.7 x 8.7 mm). Central Bass Strait, 100 km SSE of Cape Liptrap (39°45.54'S, 145°33.18'E), 74 m, 13 Nov 1981 (stn BSS 156 ), NMV J10642 (juvenile); NMV J4732 (female 8.1 x 5.1 mm). SA. Great Australian Bight (33°15.52'S – 33°16.03'S, 130°37.50'E –130° 37 07'E), 139–141 m, 09 May 2000 (stn SS01/00 334), NMV J52198 (3 males 8.5 x 5.2 mm, 7.3 x 4.8 mm, 7.2 x 4.3 mm). Great Australian Bight (33°16.00'S – 33°16.36'S, 130°43.09'E – 130°48.38'E), 134– 130 m, 10 May 2000 (stn SS01/00 351), NMV J52196 (2 ovigerous females 11.3 x 7.7 mm, 10.9 x 7.4 mm). Great Australian Bight (33°16.00'S – 33°16.01'S, 130°36.35'E – 130°38.02'E), 143– 140 m, 10 May 2000 (stn SS01/00 350), NMV J52197 (3 males 9.1 x 5.8 mm, 9.4 x 5.9 mm, 7.7 x 4.5 mm; ovigerous female 9.1 x 5.7 mm; female 7.1 x 4.5 mm; juvenile 4.8 x 3.3 mm) .

Remarks. This material from south-eastern Australia fits well with the redescription of R. mosaica by Griffin and Tranter (1986a). Whitelegge described this species in the genus Pugettia in which the carapace has a similar pattern but the first pleopod of Pugettia is very different from that of Rochinia . The records are well within the reported distribution of the species from central Queensland, through Bass Strait to the Great Australian Bight. The most westerly is 130°W near the SA –WA border.