Mursia sp.

Muñoz, Isabel, García-Isarch, Eva & Cuesta, Jose A., 2021, Annotated and updated checklist of marine crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) of Mozambique supported by morphological and molecular data from shelf and slope species of the “ MOZAMBIQUE ” surveys, Zootaxa 5056 (1), pp. 1-67 : 22

Mursia sp.

( Figure 4H )

Material examined. MOZ09, Stn. 84, 254m, ♂ 19.4× 15.8 mm ( CW without lateral spine), 30.1mm ( CW including lateral spines) (IEO-CD-MZ09/1775-1), 16S ( MZ 424928 ) , COI ( MZ 434773 ) ; ♂ 13.9× 15.5mm ( CW without lateral spine), 19.8mm ( CW including lateral spines) (IEO-CD-MZ09/1775-2), 16S ( MZ 424929 ) , COI ( MZ 434774 ) .

Results and remarks. Both male specimens were collected at the same station in 2009, at 254m depth, near the southern border of Mozambique. The specimens were small, maybe juveniles in which the typical characters of the adults are usually overdone, and consequently, they did not exactly fit to the original descriptions based on adults. In any case, the morphology did not allow to identify them as any of the species described and listed in the IP by Crosnier (1997a,b), Galil (1993, 2001), Galil & Takeda (2004), Spiridonov & Apel (2008) or Takeda & Galil (2005), or any other known species of Mursia .

Colouration observed. The carapace and chelipeds were orange-brown, with slightly lighter tubercles, the larger ones with a white top. The pereiopods were light orange with whitish dactylus.

DNA barcodes. The two 16S sequences are equal and do not correspond with any other sequence on any public database. However, the two COI sequences represent two haplotypes that differ in two positions, and both differing in only one mutation respect to two equal COI sequences obtained of the same specimen MNHN _IU200810365 collected at 303m depth in the Mb-exp. The first sequence deposited in BOLD ( MDECA 061-10) was only attributed to Mursia sp. by Chan, but in the MNHN appears as M. flamma . The second sequence, deposited in Genbank ( KU 853991 ) and submitted by Ewers-Saucedo et al. (unpublished) was identified as Mursia cristiata . Clearly, the sequence KU853991 does not correspond to M. cristiata , since the 16S sequence of this species ( KU 206617 ) does not match with the 16S sequence of Mursia sp. Molecular as well as morphological data suggest that probably this specimen deposited at the MNHN (currently as M. flamma ) and the two males collected in M09, belong to the same undescribed species of Mursia .

Figures

FIGURE 4. A, Lyreidus brevifrons, ♂ IEO-CD-MZ08/1771; B, Raninoides crosnieri, ♂ IEO-CD-MZ07/1910; C, Calappa africana, ♀ IEO-CD-MZ08/1815; D, C. africana, ♂ IEO-CD-MZ08/1797; E, Mursia africana, ♂, IEO-CD-MZ08/1797; F, Mursia aspera, ♂ IEO-CD-MZ07/1903 (preserved); G, Mursia flamma, ♀ IEO-CD-MZ07/1904; H, Mursia sp, ♂ IEO-CD- MZ09/1775. Scale bars: 1cm.