Periclimenaeus aff. nobilii Bruce, 1974

Bruce, A. J., 2006, Pontoniine shrimps (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) from the island of Socotra, with descriptions of new species of Dactylonia Fransen, 2002 and Periclimenoides Bruce, 1990, Zootaxa 1137, pp. 1-36 : 20

Periclimenaeus aff. nobilii Bruce, 1974

Figure 1 E–G

Material examine: 1Ψ, MAP­070 A, ST­017, 12°39.398’N 53°24.117’E, Ras Asfar, N of Shuab, NW­coast, 10–11 m, 9 March 1999, SMF 29209.

Host: Under stones, dead coral. Presumably from encrusting tunicate (Ascidiacea).

Remarks: The single small specimen, CL 1.5 mm, may be immature or adult of a small species. The rostrum is short, reaching only just beyond eyes, to distal margin of proximal antennular segment, with four acute dorsal teeth only. All pereiopods except the right third pereiopod are missing. The third ambulatory dactylus ( Figure 1 F) corresponds closely to that of P. nobilii , lacking a distal accessory tooth on the corpus but with an acute basal tooth and the propod is armed with a pair of short robust distoventral spines only. The short, four toothed rostrum does not correspond with the P. nobilii type specimen, which has only two dorsal teeth, and without the second pereiopods the specimens identity cannot be established with certainty. In P. nobilii the third pereiopod propod is about 6.5 times longer than the dactylus as opposed to 4.0 times in the present specimen ( Figure 1 E), and the dactylar corpus appears stouter (Bruce, 1974). The telson ( Figure 1 G) differs in that the dorsal spines are more robust, about 0.1 of the telson length, and situated at 0.28 and 0.75 of the telson length, instead of 0.13 of the telson length and at 0.33 and 0.66 of the telson length as in P. nobilii .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Conchodytes meleagrinae Peters, F­ 061, ST­ 189 / 190, (A), second pereiopod, fingers. (B), same, cutting edges. Periclimenaeus nobilii Bruce, MAP­ 139, ST­O 68, ovigerous female. (C), anterior carapace and appendages, lateral. Male. (D), third pereiopod, distal propod and dactyl. Periclimenaeus sp., aff. nobilii Bruce, MAP­ 070 A, ST­ 017, female. (E), third pereiopod, propod and dactyl. (F), same, distal propod and dactyl. G, telson.