Gonodactylus childi Manning, 1971

Ahyong, Shane T., 2017, Stomatopod Crustacea of the Austral and Gambier Islands, French Polynesia, Zootaxa 4286 (4), pp. 555-564 : 558-559

Gonodactylus childi Manning, 1971

Gonodactylus childi Manning, 1971: 75 –77 [holotype only; type locality: Runit (Yvonne) Island, Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands].— Poupin 1998: 34.— Ahyong 2001: 67, fig. 33; 2002a: 369.— Ahyong & Erdmann 2003: 323.— Osawa et al. 2004: 5 –6, fig. 3A–D.— Ahyong 2012b: 240, 247; 2014: 247, fig. 1B.

Material examined. AUSTRAL ISLANDS. Tubuai Islands : AM P64491, 1 male (TL 18 mm), 1 female (TL 12 mm), Rairua, Raivavae, near edge of inner lagoon, 23°51.94’S, 147°41.2’W, 0.5–1.0 m, coarse rubble and sand, FRP-48, RV Marara , coll. J. Poupin & J. Lowry, 14 August 1991 ; AM P64492, 2 females (TL 23–36 mm), in front of Puatai Rock , Avera Rurutu, 22°29’S, 151°22’W, 1 m, RV Marara , coll. J. Poupin & J. Lowry, 10 August 1991 ; AM P88059, 1 female (TL 26 mm), NE side Maria Island , between Île du Nordet and Île Centrale, 21°47.7’S, 154°42.0’W, 1 m, large piece of coral rubble, coll. J. Lowry & J. Poupin, 7 Aug 1991 .

GAMBIER ISLANDS: AM P98496, 1 female (TL 10 mm), Morane, 23°10.269’S, 137°09.220’W, 15 m, coral rubble, SFP 2014-59 -002, coll. A. Bertheleson et al., 9 October 2014.

Remarks. Gonodactylus childi is a common shallow water Indo-West Pacific reef species that closely resembles G. chiragra , differing chiefly in the shape of the rostral plate, telson proportions and maximum body size ( Ahyong 2001). Poupin (1998) previously recorded G. childi from Moorea (Society Islands), so the present records are the first from southern French Polynesia.

Gonodactylus chiragra ( Fabricius, 1787) has been widely reported from throughout the Indo-West Pacific including French Polynesia. As observed by Manning (1995), however, a suite of species, including many species of Gonodactylellus and Gonodactylus , has been confused with G. chiragra . Gonodactylus chiragra is so far confirmed from the western Indian Ocean to the central western Pacific ( Ahyong 2001), but all previous records of G. chiragra from French Polynesia require verification. Seurat’s (1934) record of G. chiragra from the Gambier Islands (Mangareva) may be based on G. childi .

Distribution. Christmas Island, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Guam, Enewetak Atoll ( Marshall Islands), Society Islands, and now from the Austral and Gambier islands; intertidal to 15 m depth.