Menaethiops aff. bicornis Alcock, 1985

Naderloo, Reza & Türkay, Michael, 2012, Decapod crustaceans of the littoral and shallow sublittoral Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf: Faunistics, Biodiversity and Zoogeography 3374, Zootaxa 3374 (1), pp. 1-67 : 34

Menaethiops aff. bicornis Alcock, 1985

Persian Gulf. First Persian Gulf record.

Iran. Hormozgan Province: Qeshm I. (one site on the south coast).

General distribution. Persian Gulf.

Habitat. Rocky/cobble intertidal.

Remarks. Menaethiops aff. bicornis Alcock, 1985 , is very closely related to M. bicornis Alcock, 1985 , and M. gadaniensis Kazmi & Tirmizi, 1999 , regarding the long and relatively contiguous rostral spines. The rostral spines of Menaethiops are slightly divergent distally, while in both of the other congeners the rostral spines are closely attached to each other along their whole length. Menaethiops bicornis and M. gadaniensis have two spines on the bulged hepatic region, but there are two distinct tubercles on the hepatic region of the new species. The basal antennal segment in M. bicornis is distally two-lobed, with the outer lobe being distinctly shorter than the inner lobe and the lateral margin of the basal antennal segment nearly straight, while in other related congeners the anterolateral lobe of the basal antennal segment is tooth-shaped and larger than the inner lobe, and the lateral margin of the segment is sinuous with two concavities (see Tirmizi & Kazmi 1986: 168, fig. 52b; Kazmi & Tirmizi 1999: 371, fig. 1B). Regarding the morphology of the G1, M. gadaniensis is distinct from its congeners by having the apical inner lobe markedly hook-shaped (see Kazmi & Tirmizi 1999: 371, fig. 1G, G', G''). This species is new to science and is currently being described in an ongoing work by the authors.