Mursia africana Galil, 1993

Spiridonov, Vassily A. & Apel, Michael, 2007, A new species and new records of deep-water Calappidae (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the Indian Ocean with a key to the Mursia Desmarest, 1823 species of the region, Journal of Natural History 41 (45 - 48), pp. 2851-2890 : 2856-2859

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.1080/00222930701770786
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/DB1A87A0-FFB6-FFBE-FE03-FCB7FEB516EA
treatment provided by	Felipe (2021-08-21 03:39:42, last updated by Plazi 2023-11-04 05:26:22)
scientific name	Mursia africana Galil, 1993
status

Treatment

Mursia africana Galil, 1993 View in CoL

( Figures 2A, B View Figure 2 , 3A, B View Figure 3 )

Mursia armata: Barnard 1950, p 356 View in CoL , Figure 67g [not Mursia armata de Haan, 1837 View in CoL ]. Mursia africana Galil 1993, p 352 View in CoL , Figures 1a View Figure 1 , 2a, b View Figure 2 , 3a, b View Figure 3 .

? Mursia africana: Ng et al. 2002, p 356 View in CoL –357.

Material examined South-western Indian Ocean: off Kenya, 01 ° 189–01 ° 209N, 41 ° 569–41 ° 539E, 177–243 m

depth, trawl, 14–15 January 1965, RV Meteor, Cruise 1, St. 158: one male, one juvenile ( SMF 29497); off Mozambique, 15 ° 05.09S, 35 ° 15.39E, depth 210–230 m, shrimp trawl, RV Vitiaz, Cruise 17, St. 2635: one male ( IORAS uncat.); off Kenya, 03 ° 089S, 40 ° 20.59E – 03 ° 079S, 40 ° 219E, depth 250–255 m, 5 September 1974, A. J. Bruce coll.: one male (holotype, RMNH D 30986) GoogleMaps .

Type locality

Off Kenya, Western Indian Ocean.

Type material

See under ‘‘Material examined’’.

Size ( CL × MCW)

Holotype: 30.7× 56.6 mm, LS 59.1 mm; specimen from off Mozambique: 30.4× 53.7 mm, LS 57.3 mm.

Habitat

Trawled at depth range 177–290 m.

Distribution

Along East African coast from Kenya to Mozambique. A record from Thailand by Ng et al. (2002) is questionable, since especially the relative length of the lateral spine is a difficult character to distinguish between M. africana and similar species, such as M. flamma , and use of the key provided by Galil (1993) might lead to misidentifications (see ‘‘Remarks’’).

Remarks

The present specimens agree well with the description of Galil (1993) and the holotype deposited in the RMNH, which has been examined for comparison. Even though M. africana is similar to M. flamma Galil, 1993 , in particular regarding the shape of the Go/2 [compare Figures 3a, b View Figure 3 and 10c, d View Figure 10 in Galil (1993) and our Figure 3A, B View Figure 3 ], the two species are distinguished by the following characters: carapace relatively wider and less convex in M. africana , lacking the additional tubercle between median and mesial branchial row of tubercles which is present in M. flamma ; posterior margin of carapace with flattened, nearly effaced lobes in M. africana and three sharp teeth in M. flamma ; the merus of the cheliped bispinose (but with a minute granular tubercle in addition to the two spines) in M. africana and trispinose in M. flamma . Contrary to the description provided by Galil, the median frontal lobe is more or less triangular in M. africana , while it is more rounded and bulbous in M. flamma .

The relative length of the lateral spines, a character often used for distinction of the species within the genus, however, is subject to considerable size-related variation. In M. africana the LS / CW ratio ranges from 0.35 in small specimens to 0.20 in larger size specimens, while in M. flamma it varies from 0.20 to 0.07. Thus, if this character is used for distinction of the two species the size of the actual specimen needs to be taken into account. Otherwise the use of this character might result in misidentifications.

References

Barnard KH. 1950. Descriptive catalogue of South African Decapod Crustacea (crabs and shrimps). Annals of South African Museum 38: 1 - 837, Figures 1 - 154.

de Haan W. 1837. Crustacea. Fauna Japonica sive Descriptio animalium, quae in itinere per Japoniam, jisuu et auspicius superiourum, qui summum in India Batava imperium tenet, suscepto, annis 1823 - 1830 collegit, notis, observationibus et adumbrantionibus illustravit P. F. de Siebold. Conjunctus studiis C. J. Temminck et H. Schlegel pro Vertebratis atque W. De Haan pro Invertebratis elaborata Regis aupicus edita. 4. Lugduni-Batavorum (Leiden), 244 p. 70 plates.

Galil BS. 1993. Crustacea Decapoda: a revision of the genus Mursia Desmarest, 1823 (Calappidae). In: Crosnier A, editor. Resultats des Campagnes MUSORSTOM. Volume 10. Memoires du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 156: 347 - 379, Figures 1 - 13.

Ng PKL, Lai JCY, Aungtonya C. 2002. The box and moon crabs of Thailand, with description of a new species of Calappa (Crustacea: Brachyura: Calappidae, Matutidae). Phuket Marine Biological Center Special Publication 23 (2): 341 - 360.

Figures

Figure 1. Basal antennal segment of Calappa. (A) C. japonica, Red Sea, male, CL 13.6 mm (SMF 13592); (B) C. japonica, Gulf of Aden, male, CL 46.4 mm (ZMMU Ma 5344); (C) C. japonica, Japan, female, CL 53.5 mm (SMF 22942); (D) C. pustulosa, Strait of Mozambique, female, CL 54.6 mm (ZMMU Ma 5335).

Figure 2. Dorsal view of distal margin of cheliped merus. (A) Mursia africana, male, CL 30.4 mm (IORAS, unregistered), left cheliped; (B) M. africana, juvenile male, CL 14.7 mm (SMF 29497), left cheliped; (C) Mursia aff. danigoi, male, CL 52.5 mm (IORAS, unregistered), right cheliped; (D) Mursia bicristimana, male, CL 50.0 mm (ZMMU Ma 5353), right cheliped; (E) M. bicristimana, female, CL 37.0 mm (SMF 22942), right cheliped; (F) Mursia flamma, female, CL 46.3 mm (IORAS, unregistered), right cheliped; (G) Mursia minuta, male holotype, CL 17.1 mm (NHM 1907.5.22), right cheliped; (H) M. minuta, male, CL 19.5 mm (NHM 1898.8.26.3), right cheliped.

Figure 3. Gonopods 2 (Go/2). (A) Mursia africana, left Go/2, abdominal face, juvenile male, CL 14.7 mm (SMF 29497); (B) M. africana, left Go/2, abdominal face, CL 30.4 mm (IORAS, unregistered); (C) Mursia bicristimana, left Go/2, abdominal face, CL 50.0 mm (ZMMU Ma 5353); (D) M. bicristimana, left Go/2, terminal part, same specimen as in (C); (E) Mursia aff. danigoi, left Go/2, terminal part, abdominal face, CL 52.5 mm (IORAS, unregistered).

Figure 10. Mursia minuta sp. nov. (A, B) Male holotype, CL 17.1 mm (NHM 1907.5.22), dorsal and ventral views, respectively; (C, D) male from Laccadive Islands, CL 19.5 mm (NHM 1898.8.26.3), dorsal and ventral views, respectively.