Cyrtomaia ericina Guinot & Richer

Forges, Bertrand Richer De & Ng, Peter K. L., 2008, New records of deep­sea spider crabs of the genus Cyrtomaia Miers, 1886, from the Pacific Ocean, with description of a new species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Majidae), Zootaxa 1861, pp. 17-28 : 18

Cyrtomaia ericina Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1982

Cyrtomaia ericina Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1982a: 1089, fig. 1, 5A, B. pl. II, 3, 3a, 3b. Guinot & Richer de Forges 1982b: 18, figs. 8, 9, 17 A, B, B1. – Griffin & Tranter 1986: 29. – Ng et al. 2008: 111.

Material examined. Tonga: BORDAU 2, stn. CP 1575, 19°41.75’S – 174°21.21’W, 232–295 m, 11 June 2000: 1 male (11.1 x 12.2 mm) (MNHN­B30733). – Stn. CH 1579, 19°41.88’S – 174°26.05’W, 332 m, 11 June 2000: 5 males (14.0 x 17.0 mm, 16.2 x 24.0 mm, 17.2 x 22.2 mm, 14.0 x 16.0 mm, 13.2 x 16.8 mm), 1 female (16.8 x 22.9 mm), 3 juveniles (12.2 x 15.6 mm, 14.0 x 16.0 mm, 11.0 x 13.0 mm) (MNHN­B30734). – Stn. CP 1641, 21°09.31’S – 175°22.04’W, 395 m, 21 June 2000: 3 males (15.1 x 22.7 mm, 14.1 x 19.8 mm, 9.0 x 13.0 mm) ( ZRC 2008.0745).

Remarks. This species belongs to the group of Cyrtomaia species which have a preocular spine. The first species of this group that was described, C. murrayi Miers, 1886 , was collected by the Challenger Expedition in Indonesia but has since been reported from Philippines, Taiwan and Japan ( Sakai 1976; Guinot & Richer de Forges 1986; Ng & Huang 1997; Richer de Forges & Ng 2007b). Guinot and Richer de Forges (1982a) described another small­size species from New Caledonia, C. ericina . The main differences between these two species are the presence of one supraorbital sharp spine in C. murrayi (a small tubercule in C. ericina ) and the presence of spinules on P4 and P5 carpi in C. murrayi (smooth in C. ericina ) (Guinot & Richer de Forges 1982b: 18, 20, figs. 6, 8A).

The material examined of C. ericina is from Tonga, more than 2000 km to the east of New Caledonia. A detailed study of the specimens from Tonga attributed to C. ericina and numerous specimens of C. murrayi from the Philippines reveals more differences. There is one large supraorbital spine in C. murrayi (in contrast to a small spine in C. ericina ), the ambulatory legs are relatively stronger and more spiny in C. murrayi than in C. ericina , the P3 propodus of C. murrayi has a row of very long spines on the lower border (only seven relatively shorter spines in C. ericina ), the P3 carpus has 18 spines on the upper border (eight in C. ericina ), the P4 carpus is spiny along the entire upper border (only three small spines in C. ericina ), the P5 carpus is spiny (smooth in C. ericina ), and the basal antennal article has three teeth (two in C. ericina ).