Enosteoides palauensis (Nakasone & Miyake, 1968)

Osawa, Masayuki, 2007, Porcellanidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) from New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, Zootaxa 1548, pp. 1-49 : 11

Enosteoides palauensis (Nakasone & Miyake, 1968)

Porcellana melissa Miyake, 1942: 367 (part), text-fig. 27 (not P. melissa Miyake, 1942 ). Porcellana palauensis Nakasone & Miyake, 1968c: 165 , fig. 1, pl. 7, fig. A.

Enosteoides palauensis .— Haig, 1978: 709.

Enosteoides hainanensis Yang & Sun, 2005: 19 , figs. 15, 16 (type locality: Hainan Island) (new synonymy).

Material examined. Type material: Palau. Ngadarák Reef, Palau Islands, coll. S. Miyake, 23 May 1939, ovig. female CL 3.6mm, holotype ( ZLKU 4266). Same data as holotype: ovig. female CL 3.1mm, paratype ( ZLKU 4267).

New Caledonia. Kuendu Beach, lagoon, 22°23’S, 166°32’E, 31 m, 5 May 1996, coll. B. Richer de Forges, 2 females CL 2.7, 3.0 mm. Namié, lagoon, low tide, 3 Oct. 1978, coll. C. Vadon, 1 male CL 6.1 mm. Récif Senez, lagoon, 7 m, 7 Sep. 1992, coll. P. Bouchet, 1 female CL 4.2 mm.

Remarks. The specimens examined generally agree well with the type material of E. palauensis . Yang & Sun (2005) described a new species, E. hainanensis , from Hainan Island in the South China Sea. They remarked that this species was very similar to E. palauensis , but distinguished by the carapace being more conspicuously areolated on the dorsal surface and by the shape of the basal article of the antennular peduncle being different. However, these distinctions are insufficient to distinguish the two species because the type material of E. palauensis in fact has the characters of E. hainanensis . Therefore, E. hainanensis should be considered a synonym of E. palauensis .

Distribution. Hainan Island in China, and Palau ( Nakasone & Miyake 1968c; Yang & Sun 2005). The present record of the species from New Caledonia greatly extends its distribution to the southern hemisphere. The specimens examined were collected at depths of 7– 31 m.