Spongicola levigatus Hayashi & Ogawa, 1987

Chen, Chien-Lin & Chan, Tin-Yam, 2022, New records of spongicolid shrimps (Crustacea, Decapoda, Stenopodidea) from Taiwan, Zootaxa 5189 (1), pp. 255-266 : 261

Spongicola levigatus Hayashi & Ogawa, 1987

( Fig. 4 )

Spongicola levigata Hayashi & Ogawa, 1987: 367 (Type locality: East China Sea).— Saito & Takeda 2003: 120.

Spongicola levigatus Saito & Komai 2008: 26 , figs. 16–19.— Goy 2010a: 217; 2015: 307 , figs. 7, 8.— De Grave & Fransen 2011: 251.— Komai 2015: 35.— Rodríguez Quintal & Goy 2019: 399.— Bochini et al. 2020: 8.

Material examined. R.V. Fishery Researcher 1, 26°46.11’N, 122°08.70’E, 200 m, 31 Jul 1998, 1 ovig. female cl 2.9 mm ( NTOU M02479 ) .

Diagnosis. Rostrum extending to distal margin of first segment of antennular peduncle; dorsal margin armed with 4 denticles; ventral margin with 1 denticle; lateral ridge extending posteriorly to base of rostrum. Carapace smooth; rostral basal, hepatic and anterolateral spines absent; antennal spine rudimentary; cervical groove absent. Cornea slightly narrower than eyestalk, darkly pigmented. Third pereiopod with ischium bearing small dorsodistal spine, ventral margin smooth; merus and carpus unarmed; palm with dorsal margin slightly serrated while ventral margin distinctly serrated; tips of fingers strongly curved; cutting edge of dactylus with1 stout tooth near midlength interlocking with similar-sized tooth at midlength of fixed finger. Pleon glabrous; first to fifth pleura unarmed. Sixth pleonite widened posteriorly, unarmed on ventral and posterior margins. Telson with 2 dorsal longitudinal ridges each bearing 2 spines; additional 2 pairs of spinules present near base. Uropods with endopod and exopod serrated on lateral margins.

Coloration. Not known.

Distribution. Western Pacific: Japan, East China Sea, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Tonga and now Taiwan, at depths of 200– 480 m.

Remarks. The single Taiwanese specimen collected has the rostrum slightly broken distally. Spongicola levigatus closely resembles S. teres Komai, 2015 from French Polynesia ( Komai 2015). These two species can be distinguished by the lateral rostral ridge being restricted to the rostrum in S. levigatus but extending to the anterior part of the gastric region in S. teres . In addition, the grooming apparatus of the first pereiopod is well developed in S. teres but rudimentary in S. levigatus (see Komai 2015). The present species is also similar to S. liosomatus Rodríguez Quintal & Goy 2019 from Venezuela in having reduced armature on the body and appendages ( Rodríguez Quintal & Goy 2019). The ventral margin of the third pereiopod chela, however, is serrated in S. levigatus but smooth in S. liosomatus ( Rodríguez Quintal & Goy 2019) .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Spongicola levigatus Hayashi & Ogawa, 1987, R.V. Fishery Researcher 1, ovig.female cl 2.9 mm (NTOU M02479). A, carapace, right lateral view; B, pleon, right lateral view; C, telson and uropods, dorsal view (setae omitted); D, left third pereiopod, lateral view. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.