Lepidophthalmus madagassus ( Lenz and Richters, 1881 )

Poore, Gary C. B., 2023, New records and one new species of Callichiridae (Crustacea, Axiidea) from the Indo-West Pacific, with keys to species of Corallianassa, Lepidophthalmus and Neocallichirus, Memoirs of Museum Victoria (Mem. Mus. Vic.) 82, pp. 71-95 : 74-75

Lepidophthalmus madagassus ( Lenz and Richters, 1881)

Figure 3

Callianassa madagassa Lenz and Richters, 1881: 427 , figs 20–23.

Lepidophthalmus socotrensis Sakai and Apel, 2002: 278–285 , figs 3–7 (type locality, Socotra, Yemen).

Podocallichirus madagassus .— Sakai, 1999: 56–58, fig. 10.— Sakai, 2011: 467, fig. 66C, D (synonymy).—Sakai et al., 2014: 502–507, figs 5, 6 (redescription, synonymy).

Lepidophthalmus madagassus .— Poore et al., 2019: 144.— Robles et al., 2020: figs 1, 4, 7, tables S1, S2.

Material examined. Saudi Arabia. Farasan Is , Tiger Head I., karstic shore, 16.79097° N, 42.19865° E, UF 36969 (1) . Thuwal , King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, silty sand flat, south beach, 22.29213° N, 39.09000° E, UF 37048 * + others (4 males, 6 females, 8.4–14 mm). Madagascar, Nosy Bé, MNHN Th 409 (1), MNHN Th 424 (male), MNHN Th 426 (male), NMV J58224 (1).

Diagnosis. Major cheliped dactylus swollen, upper and lower margins dentate; fixed finger with 2 dentate cutting edges. Rostrum acute, simple. Cl. to 18.1 mm.

Distribution. Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Western Indian Ocean ( Saudi Arabia, Madagascar [type locality]).

Remarks. Lenz and Richters (1881) illustrated the minor cheliped that, with its broad spinose dactylus, immediately distinguishes this species from other species of Lepidophthalmus , from all other callichirids and from members of related families. Sakai et al. (2014) synonymised L. socotrensis with Podocallichirus madagassus [sic]; the new material would seem to confirm this and any differences in the shapes of the uropod and telson are size-related. The species’ range is extended into the Red Sea.

The male pleopod 1 has a short second article with a distal triangular apex (fig. 3a); pleopod 2 has an appendix masculina bearing a small field of hooks, all that remains of the appendix interna (fig. 3b) – not as complicated as in Sakai (1999: fig. 10). Female pleopods are typical of the genus (fig. 3c, d)—the appendix interna on pleopod 2 is placed about two-thirds along the mesial margin of the endopod.