Periclimenes commensalis Borradaile, 1915

Li, Xinzheng & Bruce, Alexander J., 2006, Further Indo-West Pacific palaemonoid shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonoidea), principally from the New Caledonian region, Journal of Natural History 40 (11 - 12), pp. 611-738 : 679-680

Periclimenes commensalis Borradaile, 1915

Periclimenes (Cristiger) commensalis Borradaile 1915, p 211 ; Borradaile 1917, p 364.

Periclimenes commensalis: Chace and Bruce 1993, p 107 ; Bruce 1996, p 232, Figure 12a–g ; Li 2000, p 169, Figure 209; Davie 2002, p 325.

Material examined

Philippines: (i) Dumaran Channel, NE Palawan Islands , 2–3 m, washings from crinoids, coll. P. Bouchet, May 1985, 1 „, 4♀♀ (2 ovig.) (MNHN-Na 14888); (ii) Maribago, Mactan Island, Cebu, 10 ° 179N, 124 ° 009E, 3–5 m, washings from crinoids, coll. P. Bouchet, 9 June 1985, 1 „, 1♀?, 2 juveniles (MNHN-Na 14889) . New Caledonia: (iii) Touho Bank , on crinoids, 28 August 1993, 6 „„, 9♀♀ (4 ovig.) (MNHN-Na 15896); (iv) lagoon, on crinoids, 30 August 1993, 8♀♀ (2 ovig.) (MNHN-Na 15847); (v) Touho, Kohe, 8 September 1993, 3 „„, 2♀♀ (MNHN-Na 15888) .

Hosts

(i) (ii) Comanthina schlegeli (P. H. Carpenter, 1881) ; (ii) also Comatella nigra (P. H. Carpenter, 1888) , Comanter multibrachiata (P. H. Carpenter, 1888) , Comanthus bennetti (J. Müller, 1841) ; det. A. M. Clark. (v) Comatella sp. [Crinodea, Echinoderma].

Parasites

A branchial bopyrid is present on one of the specimens from Maribago. A bopyrid is also present beneath the abdomen of one male (iii). A couple of bopyrids are present beneath the abdomen of one female (v).

Remarks

Not previously recorded from the Philippines. Previously reported from Nouméa, New Caledonia, by Monod (1976). The Dumaran Channel specimens were collected in association with Palaemonella pottsi and Periclimenes affinis . The Touho specimens were found with Periclimenes amboinensis .

The majority of specimens still have both second pereiopods attached. The chelae are subequal and similar, short and stout, about 1.2 times the carapace length, with a wellmarked ‘‘ball and socket’’ articulation with the similarly stout carpus. The distal cutting edges of the fingers are minutely serrate. The ambulatory dactyl of the third pereiopod is biunguiculate with a clearly demarkated unguis, the proximal dorsal aspect of which bears a strong central non-articulated spiniform tooth, flanked medially and laterally by smaller similar teeth, not always readily visible. The propod is sparsely setose and the spines are distally dentate as reported in Bruce (1980a, 1982, 1996). Borradaile (1915, 1917) did not provide any illustrations with his description of the type material of this species. The second specimen discovered unfortunately lacked the second pereiopods ( Holthuis 1952a). Miyake and Fujino (1968), reporting on specimens from the Palau Islands, were the first to describe and illustrate the second pereiopods but they did not comment on the carpopropodal articulation. Monod (1976) described and illustrated a specimen from New Caledonia but did not provide information on the second pereiopods. Bruce (1980a) similarly omitted reference to these appendages in reporting on a juvenile associated with a holothurian host in the Solomon Islands. These descriptions also illustrate the ambulatory dactyls, but show or describe only a single simple dorsal spine and not a trifid spine as in the present specimens.

Distribution

Type locality: Murray Island, Torres Strait. Also known from Kenya, Zanzibar, Mozambique, China ( Hong Kong), Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs), Tasman Sea , Caroline Islands, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Marshall Islands , and Fiji.

Figures

Figure 12. Palaemonella pusilla Bruce, 1975, male (MNHN-Na 14839). (a) Carapace; (b) rostrum; (c) telson; (d) same, distal; (e) antennule; (f) antenna.