Galilia petricola Komai & Tsuchida, 2014

Shih, Yi-Jia, Ho, Ping-Ho & Chan, Tin-Yam, 2015, Leucosiid crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from Taiwan, with three new records, Zootaxa 4052 (1), pp. 127-134 : 129-130

Galilia petricola Komai & Tsuchida, 2014

( Figs. 1 B, 3)

Material examined. Southern Taiwan: 1 male, 25.4× 28.2 mm, NTOU –DW4095, TAIWAN 2013 stn DW4095, 21o13.20’N, 121o33.75’E, 517–573 m, coll. T.-Y. Chan, 29 May 2013.

Diagnosis. Carapace round, regions well defined; numerous large tubercles on hepatic and branchial regions. G1 slender, distal one-third U-shaped, curving towards median line of abdominal sternum ( Figs. 3 A, B). G2 short ( Figs. 3 C, D), distally slender, spatuliform ( Fig. 3 E).

Remarks. The genus comprises two species: G. narusei Ng & Richer de Forges, 2007 (type species), and G. petricola Komai & Tsuchida, 2014 (Ng & Richer de Forges 2007; Ng et al. 2008; Komai & Tsuchida 2014). The latter was described from Nikko Seamount, Japan, on the basis of four specimens ( Komai & Tsuchida 2014). The present record, besides being the largest of the known specimens, extends its range westwards.

Komai & Tsuchida (2014) noted that G. petricola differs from G. narusei in the prominence of tubercles on the dorsal surface of the carapace, and the shape of G1, bent at approximately 70° angle and distally stouter ( Fig. 3 ), rather than 90° angle and slimmer in G. narusei . The latter character is obvious in the large Taiwanese specimen (cf. Ng & Richer de Forges 2007: figs. 4G, H). The degree and extent of tuberculation on the carapace, however, may be less useful as a diagnostic character. The Taiwanese specimen differs from the Japanese material in having more than 20 large tubercles on the branchial region (16–17 small tubercles according to Komai & Tsuchida 2014: 301), and as such, resembles that reported in G. narusei (cf. Ng & Richer de Forges 2007: fig. 2). This character therefore does seem to vary and/or associated with size. The gastric and cardiac regions of the Taiwanese specimen are also proportionately less swollen and the tubercles on the intestinal region relatively sharper ( Fig. 1 B). Although the general shape of the G1 of the present Taiwanese specimen agrees with the type from Japan, the former structure is relatively more slender and distinctly U-shaped (gradually tapering distally towards the terminal pore and more C-shaped in the type, cf. Komai & Tsuchida, 2014: figs. 21C, D). These differences we regard as intraspecific. Clearly more specimens are needed to better understand the degree of variation in these species.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Galilia petricola Komai & Tsuchida, 2014 (male, 25.4 × 28.2 mm, NTOU – DW 4095): A – B, left G 1 s; C, left G 2; D, dorsal view of left G 2. Scales = 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 1. A, Ebalia nudipes Sakai, 1963 (male, 11.8 × 12.1 mm, ZRC 2015.277); B, Galilia petricola Komai & Tsuchida, 2014 (male, 25.4 × 28.2 mm, NTOU – DW 4095); C, Nursia rhomboidalis (Miers, 1879) (female, 18.8 × 13.9 mm, NMNS – L 19930529); D, Myra fugax (Fabricius, 1798) (male, 26.2 × 35.7 mm, NTOU – L 20140424).