Heptacarpus flexus ( Rathbun, 1899 )

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 81-82

Heptacarpus flexus ( Rathbun, 1899)

( Fig. 20E)

Spirontocaris camtschatica Rathbun, 1899: 557 [not Hippolyte camtschatica Stimpson, 1860 ].

Spirontocaris flexa Rathbun, 1904: 78 , fig. 32.— Schmitt 1921: 58, fig. 36.

Heptacarpus flexus . — Holthuis 1947: 12. — Kozloff 1974: 167. — Word & Charwat 1976 b: 115.— Butler 1980: 206. — Wicksten 1989b: 312; 1990b: 594. — Chace 1997: 44. — Komai & Yakovlev 2000: 304.

Diagnosis. Very similar to H. tenuissimus except rostrum with 4 or 5 dorsal, 5–8 ventral teeth, anterior-most dorsal tooth near to or behind middle of rostrum. Stylocerite exceeding first segment of antennular peduncle. Third maxilliped, pereopods 1, 2 with epipods. Pereopods 3–5 slender, dactyls slender, weakly bifid. Merus of pereopod 3, with 2 spines; pereopod 4, with 2 spines; pereopod 5, with 1 spine. Pleura of abdominal somites 1–4 rounded, 5 with ventral point. Somite 3 with dorsal hump. Telson with 4 pairs dorsolateral spines. Female total length to 54 mm, male not reported.

Color in life. Not reported.

Habitat and depth. Benthic, 37–172 m.

Range. Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk , Kuril Is. and Kamchatka; Bering Sea to Farallon Is., California. Type locality north of Bird I., Shumagins, Alaska. Word & Charwat (1976) included this species in their guide to the shrimps of southern California, but there are no records of this species south of the Farallon Is .