Corallianassa coutierei ( Nobili, 1904 )

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 : 73

Corallianassa coutierei ( Nobili, 1904)

Material examined. Papua New Guinea, Madang and Kavieng areas, intertidal sandflats, MNHN IU-2013-7073 *, MNHN IU-2014-991 , MNHN IU-2014-1089 , MNHN IU-2014-2711 *, MNHN IU-2014- 10010 * (3 males, 2 females, 3.0– 5.5 mm) .

Diagnosis. Rostrum horizontal; carapace anterolateral spines evenly tapered, slightly curved inwards. Maxilliped 3 ischium-merus twice as long as wide; merus tapering; propodus, free distal margin transverse. Major cheliped ischium lower margin with 4–6 oblique spines increasing in length distally; merus lower margin with row of blunt tubercles; palm as long as wide or slightly longer than wide, upper margin obscurely carinate along proximal two-thirds. Minor cheliped merus lower margin smooth; palm 1.5 times as long as wide, rectangular; fingers as long as palm, curved. Uropodal endopod twice as long as wide; anterior margin evenly convex; posterior margin convex; apex broadly rounded, flat. Uropodal exopod posterior margin almost straight; proximal article with sharp spine overlapping endopod and smaller accessory proximal lobe. Telson tapering to about two-thirds basal width from basal lobes, 1.7 times as wide as long; posterior margin evenly slightly convex; dorsal surface with about 6 pairs of fine setae in row on transverse ridge.

Distribution. Western, Central and Eastern Indo-Pacific [type locality: Djibouti] (see Dworschak, 2018).

Remarks. Komai et al. (2015) and Dworschak (2018) reviewed the complicated history of this nameand recognised the species as distinct from C. borradailei , with which it had been confused. All specimens from Papua New Guinea are small and lack the carinate chelipeds that characterise C. borradailei . Corallianassa coutierei is best diagnosed by the short obsolete carina along half the upper margin of the major cheliped palm and the denticles (not spines) on the lower margin of the major cheliped merus. Genetic diversity among individuals from Papua New Guinea and Philippines is low ( Robles et al., 2020).

Sakai (1999) designated and illustrated Nobili’s (1904) specimen from Djibouti ( MNHN Th75) as the lectotype. Other syntype specimens came from Périm and Aden. Callianassa placida De Man, 1905 is a well accepted synonym ( Ngoc-Ho, 2005; Komai et al., 215) but records of Callianassa (Callichirus) placida from Clipperton I., northeastern Pacific ( Chace, 1962), and from Isla Clarion, Mexico ( Hernández-Aguilera et al., 1986) are referable to Corallianassa xutha Manning, 1988 .