Thalamita poissonii (Savigny, 1817)

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 : 41-42

Thalamita poissonii (Savigny, 1817)

Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia ( Basson et al. 1977; Apel & Spiridonov 1998; Apel 2001), Bahrain ( Stephensen 1946; Vousden 1987), UAE ( Nobili 1906a; Al-Ghais & Cooper 1996; Cooper 1996; Hornby 1997; Apel & Spiridonov 1998; Apel 2001), Iran (present study). Alcock (1899) recorded this species from the Persian Gulf without exact locality.

Iran. Hormozgan Province: Qeshm I. (Naghasheh).

General distribution. Indo-West Pacific + East Atlantic: South Africa, East Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Persian Gulf, north-western coast of India, Lakshadweep, Sri Lanka. This species has also been recorded from the Mediterranean, as well as from the West African coast ( Angola, and the Canary Is.) ( Apel & Spiridonov 1998).

Habitat. Rocky/cobble intertidal to 5 m.

Remarks. Apel & Spiridonov (1998) mentioned some variations in the shape of the frontal lobes, anterolateral teeth of the carapace and pilosity of the carapace. A small male (CL = 9.23, CB = 13.28 mm) collected during the study from the south coast of the Qeshm I. has a relatively plumose carapace, and the first three anterolateral teeth of the carapace are nearly blunt, whereas specimens examined by Apel & Spiridonov (1998) from the Persian Gulf have acute teeth. The Persian Gulf population of this species has usually the frontal lobe laterally produced ( Apel & Spiridonov 1998), while in the present specimen it is indistinct. Apel & Spiridonov (1998) stated that the occurrence of this species in the eastern Indian Ocean is doubtful, since some records from the region ( Sakai 1939; Stephenson & Rees 1967) are based on misidentifications.