Miersiograpsus australiensis Türkay, 1978

Ahyong, Shane T., 2008, Deepwater crabs from seamounts and chemosynthetic habitats off eastern New Zealand (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura), Zootaxa 1708 (1), pp. 1-72 : 60

Miersiograpsus australiensis Türkay, 1978

( Fig. 5D )

Litocheira kingsleyi . — Griffin & Brown 1976: 255–256 [Not L. kingsleyi ( Miers, 1885) ].

Miersiograpsus australiensis Türkay, 1978: 138 , figs 4–6 [type locality: E of Brush Island, New South Wales, Australia, 35°34’S, 150°45’E]. — Crosnier 2001: 795 , figs. 8, 9. — Davie 2002: 438.

Material examined. Rock Garden cold seep: NIWA 29390 , 1 male (cl 11.4 mm, cw 11.8 mm), 1 female (cl 11.2 mm, cw 11.5 mm), 40°02.41–02.65’S, 178°08.67–08.91’E, 749–787 m, TAN0616/12, 4 Nov 2006 .

Remarks. Miersiograpsus australiensis is recorded for the first time from New Zealand waters. Previous records are from southeastern Australia (35°34’S) and New Caledonia ( Türkay 1978; Crosnier 2001), so the present specimens also represent the southernmost records and the first records outside the Tasman Sea. Miersiograpsus australiensis , with a New Zealand-Australian distribution, has been misidentified as its southern African congener, M. kingsleyi ( Miers, 1885) ( Griffin & Brown 1976, as Litocheira ). The distributions of Miersiograpsus species parallel those of Neopilumnoplax heterochir ( Studer, 1883) and N. nieli sp. nov., from southwestern Africa and New Zealand-Australia, respectively.

Distribution. Southeastern Australia, New Caledonia and now from eastern New Zealand; 441– 787 m.

Figures

FIGURE 5. A, Trichopeltarion fantasticum Richardson & Dell, 1964, male, cl 58.1 mm (NIWA 16492). B, Ovalipes molleri (Ward, 1933), male, cl 75.6 mm (NMNZ Cr7223). C, Gandalfus puia McLay, 2007, male holotype, cl 15.5 mm, cw 24.3 mm (NIWA 27855). D, Miersiograpsus australiensis Türkay, 1978, male, cl 11.4 mm, cw 11.8 mm (NIWA 29390). E, Xenograpsus ngatama McLay, 2007, male, cl 25.9 mm, cw 27.4 mm (NIWA 27854). F, Miersiella haswelli (Miers, 1886), male, cl 7.8 mm (NIWA 6760). C, E, after McLay (2007)