Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961

P. - H & Ng, Peter K. L., 2014, A new species of Neoliomera Odhner, 1925, from the western Pacific, and the first record of N. demani Forest & Guinot, 1961, from Taiwan (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Xanthidae), Zootaxa 3826 (3), pp. 579-590 : 586-588

Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961

( Figs. 1F , 3C , 4C, D, F , 6E–G , 7D )

Actaeodes pubescens — Miers 1884: 10 ( Mauritius); De Man 1891: 4, pl. 1 fig. 1 ( Fiji).

Liomera pubescens — Ortmann 1893: 452 ( Fiji); Klunzinger 1913: 135 (Red Sea). (not Zozymus pubescens H. Milne Edwards, 1834 )

Neoliomera pubescens — Odhner 1925: 28, pl. 2 fig. 6, 6 a, 7 ( Palau, Samoa, Tahiti); Buitendijk 1960: 261 ( Fiji); Sakai 1976: 399 (part), pl. 142 fig. 1 ( Japan); Peyrot-Clausade 1977a: 27 ( Madagascar); Peyrot-Clausade 1977b: 212 (Tahiti); Hoover 2006: 281, colour photograph (O‘ahu, Hawaiian Islands).

Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961: 80 , text-figs. 76, 77b, pl. 3, figs. 3-5 (Tahiti); Guinot 1967: 267; Serène 1968: 73 (list); Serène 1980: 716, pl. 1 D (list); Serène 1984: 71, text-fig. 31, pl. 8B ( Mauritius); Poupin 1996: 40 ( French Polynesia); Ng et al. 2008: 201 (list).

Neoliomera demani — Lai et al. 2011: 414 (?Hawaiian Islands).

Liomera demani — Sakai 1967: 73, 81, frontispiece fig. 2 ( Japan).

Material examined. 1 male (35.4 × 19.3 mm) ( ZRC 2014.0181 ), Lan-Yu (= Orchid Island ), Taitung County, Taiwan, intertidal reefs, coll. S.-M. Chou, 15 March 1998 . --- 1 male (35.7 × 18.7 mm) ( NTOU 2014.031403 ), Lan- Yu (= Orchid Island), Taitung County, Taiwan, intertidal reefs, coll. K.-C. Wang, 10 March 2010 . --- 1 male (27.7 × 16.6 mm) ( ZRC 2009.1174 ), from aquarium, supposedly from the Hawaiian Islands , obtained S. H. Tan, 18 March 2009 .

Remarks. This species was described at length and figured on the basis of two male specimens collected from Tahiti in French Polynesia and Hakueru in the Tuamotu Archipelago ( Forest & Guinot 1961), and there is no need to re-diagnose the taxon here. Forest & Guinot (1961) noted that specimens identified as Actaeodes pubescens , Liomera pubescens and Neoliomera pubescens by Miers (1884) from Mauritius, De Man (1891) from Fiji, Odhner (1925) from Palau, Samoa and Tahiti belonged instead to N. demani .

The identity of Sakai’s (1967, 1976) “ Neoliomera pubescens ” requires discussion. Sakai (1967: 73, 81, colour frontispiece fig. 2) first reported the species as N. demani on the basis of specimens from Yoron Island, Japan. Sakai (1976: pl. 142 fig. 1) changed his mind and referred all his Japanese specimens as well as Hawaiian material he had on hand to N. pubescens . He commented that “In the full-grown male, the distal portion of the palm is encircled with deep black pigment extended from the fixed finger, however, in the female as well as the younger male, the pigment is only restricted to both fingers.” ( Sakai 1976: 399). Forest & Guinot (1961: 81), however, had already noted that smaller specimens of N. demani tend to have a less extensive black pigmentation on the palm ( Fig. 6F ). The chela of the Japanese specimen as figured by Sakai (1967: colour frontispiece fig. 2; 1976: pl. 142 fig. 1) clearly belongs to N. demani ; not only is the black pigmentation being more extensive than in any known specimens of N. pubescens or N. fragraea n. sp., but also the fingers being longer, straighter and the distal part more strongly curved (cf. Figs. 4C, D , 6F, G ). At least on the basis of the Sakai’s figures, the last ambulatory merus appears to be relatively longer (see Fig. 4F ) as in N. demani . The identity of Sakai’s (1976) material from Hawai‘i is less certain, although on the basis of the figures in Edmondson (1946: fig. 178b; 1962: fig. 9d) (notably in the form of the chela and ambulatory legs), they agree better with N. fragraea n. sp. It therefore seems likely that Sakai’s (1976) material contained two species. Hoover’s (2006: colour photograph) of “ N. pubescens ” from Hawai‘i is almost certainly N. demani as his figure shows the characteristic black markings on the chela. We also have one large male specimen of N. demani from the aquarium trade (ZRC 2009.1174) that was supposedly collected from Hawai‘i. In any case, the presence of this species there is not surprising considering its wide range in the Pacific.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Colours in life. A–C, Neoliomera fragraea n. sp., female (25.3 × 14.3 mm) (NTOU), Taiwan; D, Neoliomera fragraea n. sp., holotype male (18.3 × 10.1 mm) (ZRC 2014.0206), Guam [photograph by G. Paulay]; E, Neoliomera fragraea n. sp., paratype male (18.2 × 10.8 mm) (NTOU) [photograph by G. Paulay]; F, Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961, male (35.7 × 18.7 mm) (NTOU), Taiwan [photograph by Wang Kuei-Ching].

FIGURE 3. A, Neoliomera fragraea n. sp., paratype female (11.9 × 7.5 mm) (ZRC 2014.0207), Guam; B, Neoliomera fragraea n. sp., paratype male (18.2 × 10.8 mm) (NTOU), Guam; C, Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961, male (35.7 × 18.7 mm) (NTOU), Taiwan. A, C, dorsal overall views; B, anterior thoracic sternum and abdomen.

FIGURE 4. A, B, E, Neoliomera fragraea n. sp., holotype male (18.3 × 10.1 mm) (ZRC 2014.0206), Guam; C, D, F, Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961, male (35.7 × 18.7 mm) (NTOU), Taiwan. A, C, outer views of right chelae; B, D, inner views of right chelae; E, F, right fourth ambulatory leg.

FIGURE 6. A–D, Neoliomera pubescens (H. Milne Edwards, 1834), dried lectotype male (30.5 × 17.5 mm) (MNHN-B10037), Mauritius; E, F, Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961, paratype male (23.0 × 13.0 mm) (MNHN-B10035), Tahiti; G, Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961, holotype male (38.0 × 21.0 mm) (MNHN), Hikueru, French Polynesia. A, dorsal view; B, frontal view of carapace; C, E, dorsal views of carapaces; D, F, G, outer views of left chelae. A, B, after A. Milne- Edwards (1865: pl. 12 fig. 6); C, D, after Forest & Guinot (1961: pl. 3 figs. 1, 2); E–G, after Forest & Guinot (1961: pl. 3 figs. 3–5).

FIGURE 7. A, C, Neoliomera pubescens (H. Milne Edwards, 1873), lectotype male (30.5 × 17.5 mm) (MNHN), Mauritius; D, Neoliomera demani Forest & Guinot, 1961, paratype male (23.0 × 13.0 mm) (MNHN), Tahiti; B, E, Neoliomera fragraea n. sp., holotype male (18.3 × 10.1 mm) (ZRC 2014.0206), Guam. A, B, left G1; C–E, distal parts of left G1s. A, C, after Forest & Guinot (1961: fig. 75); D, after Forest & Guinot (1961: fig. 76).