Dactylonia ascidicola ( Borradaile, 1898 )

Fransen, Charles H. J. M., 2006, On Pontoniinae (Crustacea, Decapoda, Palaemonidae) collected from ascidians, Zoosystema 28 (3), pp. 713-746 : 716

Dactylonia ascidicola ( Borradaile, 1898)

Pontonia ascidicola Borradaile, 1898: 389 (type locality: Blanche Bay, New Britain, in ascidian).

Dactylonia ascidicola – Fransen 2002: 282-295, figs 185-193, pls 11, 12.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Papua New Guinea. 9°44.01’S, 150°44.41’E, in Phallusia julinea Sluiter, 1919 , 30 m, 13.I.2002, coll. CRRF, 1 ovigerous ♀ pocl. 3.1 mm ; 1 ♂ pocl. 2.6 mm (MNHN-Na 15222).

Cyclone Reef, 9°07.94’S, 149°29.32’E, crevice at 120 m, “trouvée à moitié sortie de l’oscule d’une ascidie du genre Rhopalaea ”, diving, 1 juvenile pocl. 2.2 mm (MNHN-Na 15224).

Philippines. Bohol Sea, Camiguin Island, W side of White Island, off-shore sand cay, 9°15.38’N, 124°39.12’E, 18 m, in Ascidia ornata Monniot & Monniot, 2001 (see Monniot & Monniot 2001: 306), 19.IV.1997, coll. CRRF, 1 ovigerous ♀ pocl. 4.3 mm; 1 ♂ pocl. 3.8 mm (MNHN-Na 15223).

Tahiti. Ascidia divisa Tokioka, 1953 , date unknown, 1 ♂ pocl. 1.7 mm; 1 ovigerous ♀ pocl. 2.0 mm; 1 ♂ pocl. 1.7 mm; 1 juvenile pocl. 1.4 mm (MNHN-Na 8226).

REMARKS

The small specimen (MNHN-Na 15224) from Papua New Guinea has an aberrant telson with the left distal dorsal spine position occupied by two instead of one spine.

The species has been recorded from Ascidia empheres Sluiter, 1895 , Ascidia sydneiensis and Rhopalaea crassa (Herdman, 1880) . Phallusia julinea , Ascidia divisa , and Ascidia ornata constitute new host records.

The species has been recorded from the Indo- West Pacific from the Red Sea and Madagascar to Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, and as far east as Guam and the Bismarck Archipelago. This is the first record of the species from Tahiti.