Paromola japonica ( Parisi, 1915 )

Ng, Peter K. L., Forges, Bertrand Richer De & Martin, Joel W., 2020, The Homolidae of the Hawaiian Islands, with notes on the taxonomy of Moloha major (Kubo, 1936) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura), Zootaxa 4809 (2), pp. 306-328 : 311

Paromola japonica ( Parisi, 1915)

Homola japonica Parisi, 1915: 109 , pl. 3 [type locality: Diso, Sagami Bay, Japan] (see Guinot & Richer de Forges 1995: 364;

Ahyong et al. 2009: 109; for most references prior to 2009). Latreillopsis hawaiiensis Edmondson, 1932: 5 , fig. 1, pl. 1 [type locality: O’ahu, Hawai‘I Island]. Paromola japonica — Guinot & Richer de Forges 1995: 364, figs. 21f, 2A, 23a, b, 26D, 27e; Ikeda & Kuramochi 2007: 28; Ahy-

ong et al. 2009: 109, figs. 75–77; Garassino 2009: 36; Castro 2011: 36; Wang et al. 2013: 1409; Ng et al. 2017: 28.

Material examined: Hawaiian Islands: 1 dried, mounted holotype male of Latreillopsis hawaiiensis Edmondson, 1932 (146.0 × 119.8 mm) ( BPBM S3640), off Watertown, O‘ahu, depth 54.9 m, coll. U. Costales, by hook and line, 20 June 1932.—1 ovigerous female (85.2 × 68.6 mm), 1 female ( BPBM 1975.11 ), Kawaihae , 420.6 m, coll. K. W. Prufer, dredge, March 1970 .— 1 male (146.2 × 128.7 mm, only carapace and pleon left) ( BPBM S11142 ), no other data .— 1 male (135.0 × 110.0 mm) ( BPBM S10045 ), off Makapu , O‘ahu, 296 m, coll. J. Gushiken, by line, 31 December 1981 .— 1 male (145.0 × 118.0 mm) ( BPBM S 10072 ), dredge spoil site, off Pearl Harbour , O‘ahu, 370 m, coll. submersible Hurl Makali‘i Mission 82-88, B. Bartko & D.M. Devaney, 4 May 1982 .— 1 male (49.2 × 36.3 mm) ( BPMM S10811 ), off Pearl Harbour , O‘ahu, 370 m, coll. “Easy Rider”, in shrimp trap, coll. E. Chave, 27 September 1976 .— 2 ovigerous females (83.5 × 63.8 mm, 85.0 × 64.1 mm) ( BPBM uncatalogued), off Waianae, O‘ahu, 518 m, coll. 15 October 1983 .— 1 male, 2 females ( BPBM), NWI, cruise TC81, station 4, 454 m, coll. MV Townsend Cromwell, 18 August 1981 .

Remarks. Sakai (1936) and Barnard (1950) suggested that Latreillopsis hawaiiensis Edmondson, 1932 , is a junior synonym of Paromola japonica ( Parisi, 1915) , and many recent authors have followed this (see Ng et al. 2008). Guinot & Richer de Forges (1995: 366) adopted this synonymy but noted that Serène & Lohavanijaya (1973: 26) had recognised it as a distinct species. Serène & Lohavanijaya (1973: 26) commented that “species like hawaiiensis and japonica are perhaps synonyms” and in a key, distinguished P. japonica by its carapace being crowded with large spines and the merus of the chelipeds possessing spiniform tubercles whereas in P. hawaiiensis , the carapace has acute tubercles rather than spines and the tubercles on the merus of the chelipeds are less sharp. The holotype of Latreillopsis hawaiiensis is very large, and in the BPBM and ZRC are also several relatively large specimens. For these large specimens, the spines and tubercles in general are relatively sharper and more acute in smaller specimens, with those of large specimens lower. The holotype is dried and the lower spines and tubercles appear to be somewhat eroded. With regards to all the other characters now used to distinguish species of Paromola (see Guinot & Richer de Forges 1995), we could discern no differences.

Distribution: Our failure to collect this species at French Frigate Shoals is somewhat surprising, as the species has been collected from both the Main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (at Raita Bank) before. Previous records for Hawai‘i include Edmondson (1932: 5, O‘ahu), Hiatt (1948: 79, O‘ahu), Tinker (1965: 68, 133, Hawaiian Islands, as Homola (Parhomola) japonica ), Clarke (1972: table 2, O‘ahu, as Homala japonica ), Guinot & Richer de Forges (1995: 364, O‘ahu, Raita Bank, NWHI), Chave & Malahoff (1998: table 1, table 1, as Paromala japonica ) and Garassino (2009: O‘ahu, Raita Bank, NWHI). The species has a wide range in the Indo-West Pacific, from Japan, Taiwan, South China Sea to the Hawaiian Islands, 80–915 m (cf. Guinot & Richer de Forges 1995; Ahyong et al. 2009).