Gonodactylaceus falcatus ( Forskål, 1775 )

Ahyong, Shane T., 2022, Stomatopod Crustacea of Lord Howe Island, Zootaxa 5194 (1), pp. 144-150 : 145

Gonodactylaceus falcatus ( Forskål, 1775)

Cancer falcatus Forskål, 1775: 96 [type locality: Djeddah, Red Sea, by neotype selection ( Manning & Lewinsohn 1981)].

Gonodactylaceus falcatus .— Ahyong 2001: 35–38, fig. 17; 2012: 19–22, fig. 7, 8.

Material examined. AM P100911 , 1 female (TL 21 mm), lagoon, “The Potholes”, 31.56072°S, 159.074352°E , LHI 2017Mar28 _048, 3 m, coral rubble, coll. S. Keable, E. Kupriyanova & K. Layton, 28 March 2017; AM P101448 , 1 juvenile male (TL 15 mm), 2 female postlarvae (TL 8 mm), lagoon, “The Potholes”, 31.56072°S, 159.074352°E , LHI 2017Mar28 _048, 3 m, coral rubble, coll. S. Keable, E. Kupriyanova & K. Layton, 28 March 2017; AM P101264 , 1 female (TL 20 mm), N of moorings on N side of Blackburn (Rabbit) Island, 31.53389°S, 159.0575°E, 4 m, lagoon, coral rubble , LHI 2017Mar29 _054, coll. S. Keable & K. Layton, 29 March 2017; AM P100912 , 1 female postlarva (TL 9 mm), Signal Point , 31.52501°S, 159.05967°E , LHI 2017Apr05 _104, 0.5 m, Caulerpa , coll. A. Hegedus, 5 April 2017; AM P100913 , 1 juvenile male (TL 17 mm), southern side of North Passage , outer reef slope, 31.52597°S, 159.04633°E , LHI 2017Mar30 _072, 10 m, coral rubble, coll. A. Reid, A. Hegedus, S. Keable & K. Layton, 30 March 2017; AM P100916 , 1 male (TL 58 mm), 1 female (TL 19 mm), Signal Point , 31.52501°S, 159.05967°E , LHI 2017Apr04 _099, in and under intertidal rocks & coral, rock pools, coll. A. Hegedus, A. Miller & S. Keable, 4 April 2017.

Remarks. Gonodactylaceus falcatus was first recorded from Lord Howe Island by Stephenson & McNeill (1955) and reported in detail by Ahyong (2001). The largest specimen in the present series is an adult male (TL 58 mm, AM P100916) but most specimens are juveniles. As observed by Ahyong (2001, 2012) for other specimens from Lord Howe Island and northern New Zealand, the anterior margins of the rostral plate slope posteriorly and the median carinule on abdominal somite 6 is indistinct or absent. The left side of the rostral plate in the TL 58 mm male is deformed, possibly as a result of prior injury.

Distribution. Currently attributed a wide range from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea, to Indonesia, Australia, New Caledonia, Japan, Fiji, Hawaii (introduced), French Polynesia and northern New Zealand; intertidal to less than 80 m, possibly 400 m ( Ahyong 2012).