Pseudoliomera lata ( Borradaile, 1902 )

Tune, K Noelle, Zachrison, Kori S, Pines, Jesse M, Zheng, Hui & Hayden, Emily M, 2024, A New and Some Rare Crabs of the Families Trapeziidae, Oziidae and Xanthidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from the Ogasawara Islands, Japan, Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science. Series A, Zoology 50 (3), pp. 97-122 : 115-116

Pseudoliomera lata ( Borradaile, 1902) [Jn: Sango-awatsubu-modoki]

( Fig. 2A )

Actaea lata Borradaile, 1902, p. 254 , fig. 53. — Odhner, 1925, p. 62, pl. 4 fig. 7. — Sakai, 1939, pp. 482 (in key), 489, pl. 93 fig. 7. — Guinot, 1962, p.236, figs. 3, 6, 9. — Deb, 1989, pp. 7 (in key), 24, fig. 27, pl. 5 fig. 1.

Pseudoliomera lata : Guinot, 1967, p. 561 (in discussion); 1969, p. 228 (in discussion), fig. 13. — Sakai, 1976, p. 453 (in English), p.274 (in Japanese), pl. 160 fig. 1. — Serène, 1984, pp.99 (in key), 100 (in key), 102, fig. 61, pl. 13 fig. E. — Muraoka, 1998, p.42. — Maenosono, 2018, pp.21, 29 (in key), figs. 1C–D, 4.

Material examined. Chichi-jima Is. —Diving site Dobu-iso (27°05′24″N, 142°15′08″E), Chichi-jima I., 6–20 m, 1 young ♀ (NSMT-Cr 31694; cb 6.9×cl 5.1 mm), 1-VII-2014, H. Komatsu leg.

Haha-jima Is. —Diving site Blue ribbon (26°34′03″N, 142°12′48″E), Imoto-jima I., 12–14 m, 1 young ♂ (NSMT-Cr 31695; cb 10.4×cl 7.1 mm), 14-VII-2016, H. Komastsu leg.

Remarks. This species was described and recorded as Actaea lata by Borradaile (1902), Odhner (1925), Sakai (1939), Guinot (1962) and Deb (1989), and is known as Pseudoliomera lata by Sakai (1976), Serène (1984) and Maenosono (2018) after the suggestion of its close affinity to Pseudoliomera by Guinot (1967; 1969).

The male at hand is safely identified as this species due to having the carapace dorsal surface with distinctly isolated regions covered with pearly granules of good size and blackish setae. This specimen is uniformly dark brick red ( Fig. 2A ), differing from the photographs given by Maenosono (2018, fig. 1C–D), in which the carapace seems to be grayish and symmetrically mottled with brick red in both of the male and female specimens.

Distribution. Pseudoliomera lata has already been recorded from the Ogasawara Islands by Odhner (1925), and also the right cheliped obtained from stomach contents of slender emperor, Lethrinus variegatus Valenciennes , from the Ogasawara Islands was identified as that of P. lata by Takeda and Kurata (1977b). The type locality is Fadifolu Atoll in the Maldive Islands, with geographical distribution from Sri Lanka eastwards to the Tuamotu Islands and northward to the Mariana Islands and central Japan (cf. Holthuis, 1953; Guinot, 1962; Deb, 1989; Maenosono, 2018).

Pseudoliomera paraspeciosa ( Ward, 1941) , comb. nov. [New Jn: Hanayaka-awatsubugani] ( Figs. 2H , 5A–C )

Actaea paraspeciosa Ward, 1941, p.9 , figs. 11–12.

Nec Actaea paraspeciosa : Ooishi, 1970, p.92, pl. 14 fig. 6. [= Pseudoliomera speciosa (Dana, 1852) ]

Material examined. Chichi-jima Is. —Futami Bay, Chichi-jima I., on buoy, 1♂ (cb 9.7×cl 7.0 mm), 1♀ (cb 8.7×cl 6.2 mm), NSMT-Cr 6878, 17-V-1975, Y. Kurata leg.

Haha-jima Is. —Diving site Hirane (26°34′08″N, 142°12′49″E), Imoto-jima I., 20–25 m, 1 ♂ (NSMT-Cr 31696; cb 7.0×cl 4.8 mm), 14-VII-2016, H. Komatsu leg.

Remarks. This species originally described as Actaea is insufficiently known as yet, and was omitted from the monograph by Serène (1984), in which Dr. A. Crosnier recorded the brief comment that Takeda and Miyake (1976) considered the species as valid. Ward (1941) described Actaea paraspeciosa which was considered to be close to, but distinct from A. speciosa Dana, 1851 . Later, Guinot (1969) mentioned on the assumption that Actaea paraspeciosa is valid, and both species belong to the same genus, and that should be transferred to the genus Pseudoliomera Odhner, 1925 .

The present specimens identified as Pseudoliomera paraspeciosa are quite distinct from P. speciosa not only in the color in life, but also in the carapace dorsal areolation. In this species ( Figs. 2H , 5A ), the carapace dorsal surface is rather obscurely divided into regions by wide and shallow furrows, and covered with long hairs except for marginal regions, but in P. speciosa ( Fig. 2B ), the carapace is devoid of long hairs and the interregional furrows are narrow and sharply divide the regions. Otherwise, the dense setae surrounding the horny tip of the first ambulatory dactylus are unique to the two species in question, but the details are somewhat different in the two species. In P. speciosa , the setae at the distal part of the dactylus are cylindrically surrounding the horny tip, as finely illustrated by Guinot (1969, fig. 12), but in P. paraspeciosa , as seen in Fig. 5C , the bundle of setae appears to be rather depressed and flattened, not the form of round brush in P. speciosa .

Ward (1941) described this species as Actaea paraspeciosa based on five males and nine females from Mindanao, the Philippines, that were collected from the branches of living Acropora corals, sharing habitat with the Trapezia and Cymo crab species. Ooishi (1970) recorded this species from Hatsune-ura, Chichi-jima Island, with a photograph (pl. 14 fig. 6), and this record was adopted by Takeda and Komatsu (2023) in the checklist of the crabs from the Ogasawara Islands. However, at present, it is noted on close observation of the photograph given by Ooishi (1970), it should be referred to P. speciosa , not to P. paraspeciosa .

Distribution. Hitherto known only from the type locality, Mindanao, the Philippines.

Figures

Fig. 2. A: Pseudoliomera lata (Borradaile), young Ə (NSMT-Cr 31695; cb 10.4×cl 7.1mm) from Imoto-jima. B: Pseudoliomera speciosa (Dana), Ə (NSMT-Cr 31697; cb 7.2×cl 5.5 mm) from Chichi-jima. C–D: Pseudoliomera hellerii (A. Milne-Edwards), Ə (NSMT-Cr 31688; cb 19.5×cl 13.5mm) from Hira-shima, dorsal (C) and ventral (D) views. E–F: Liomera rubra (A. Milne-Edwards), Ə (NSMT-Cr 31681; cb 18.2×cl 10.8mm) from Haha-jima (E), and juv. (photograph only), from Haha-jima (F). G: Pseudoliomera variolosa (Borradaile), 8 (NSMT-Cr 31698; cb 7.6×cl 5.7mm) from Mukou-jima. H: Pseudoliomera paraspeciosa (Ward), Ə (NSMT-Cr 31696; cb 7.0×cl 4.8mm) from Imoto-jima.

Fig. 5. A–C: Pseudoliomera paraspeciosa (Ward),Ə (NSMT-Cr 31696; cb 7.0×cl 4.8mm) from Imoto-jima, dorsal (A) and ventral views (B), and dactylus of right first ambulatory leg, showing tuft of setae (C). D: Liocarpilodes harmsi (Balss),Ə (NSMT-Cr 31671; cb 5.2×cl 3.6mm) from Miyano-hama, Chichi-jima. E: Paractaea retusa (Nobili), ovig.8 (NSMT-Cr 6877; cb 17.0×cl 10.7mm) from Futami Bay, Chichi-jima. F: Paractaea rufopunctata (H. Milne-Edwareds), ovig.8 (NSMT-Cr 6551; cb 28.2×cl 19.2mm) from Miyano-hama, Chichijima. G: Pseudoliomera variolosa (Borradaile),8 (NSMT-Cr 31698; cb 7.6×cl 5.7mm) from Mukou-jima. H: Pseudoliomera helleri (A. Milne-Edwards),Ə (NSMT-Cr 31688; cb 19.5×cl 13.5mm) from Haha-jima.