Naushonia carinata Dworschak, Marin & Anker, 2006

Komai, Tomoyuki & Anker, Arthur, 2015, Additional records of the laomediid mud-shrimp genus Naushonia Kingsley, 1897 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Gebiidea), with a revised identification key, Zootaxa 3974 (3), pp. 341-360 : 344-346

Naushonia carinata Dworschak, Marin & Anker, 2006

Fig. 1A

Naushonia carinata Dworschak et al. 2006: 3 , figs. 1–6 (type locality: Dâm Bay of Tré Island, Nha Trang, Vietnam).— Anker et al. 2015: 333 , fig. 24A (Lombok, Indonesia).

Material examined. Japan: 1 ovigerous female (pocl 7.1 mm), Yaeyama Islands, Iriomote Island, Shirahama, intertidal, soft sediment with sea grass, suction pump, coll. T. Komai, 14 May 2014, RUMF-ZC 3677. Description. See Dworschak et al. (2006).

Colouration in life. Body and appendages whitish; yellowish-brown hepatopancreas and pale orange ovary visible through integument ( Fig. 1A ).

Distribution. Western Pacific: Vietnam (Nha Trang Bay), Philippines (Panglao), Indonesia (Lombok) ( Dworschak et al. 2006; Anker et al. 2015); Japan (Ryukyu Islands) (present study).

Habitat. Intertidal and shallow subtidal, presumably in burrows of the callianassid ghost shrimp Glypturus armatus ( A. Milne-Edwards, 1870) ( Dworschak et al. 2006) .

Remarks. Naushonia carinata was originally described on the basis of four type specimens, viz. female holotype, male allotype and two female paratypes, from Nha Trang, Vietnam, and one additional female from Panglao, near Bohol, in the Philippines ( Dworschak et al. 2006). More recently, Anker et al. (2015) recorded this species also from Lombok, Indonesia.

The present specimen agrees well with the description provided by Dworschak et al. (2006), except for the gill formula. According to Dworschak et al. (2006: Table 1, figure 4f), in the type specimens of N. carinata , the first maxilliped is devoid of an arthrobranch at its base. In contrast, our specimen from Iriomote Island has a single, well-developed, multi-lamellate arthrobranch near the base of the first maxilliped. At our request, Dr. Peter C. Dworschak re-examined two paratypes of N. carinata deposited in the Naturhistorisches Museum in Wien, Vienna, Austria (NHMW), and confirmed that in these specimens there is indeed no arthrobranch at the base of the first maxilliped. Therefore, it seems most reasonable to assume that the development of this arthrobranch is a variable character in N. carinata . For instance, Astall et al. (1997) reported a variation in the number of gills present on the first and second maxillipeds in the northeastern Atlantic laomediid Jaxea nocturna Nardo, 1847 .

Naushonia carinata is one of the most distinctive species of the genus, recognizable by the generally stout and wide body, the presence of three sharply defined, longitudinal carinae (one median and two submedian) on the first to fifth pleomeres, and the relatively broad cheliped palm ( Fig. 1A ). Dworschak et al. (2006) suggested a possible association of N. carinata with spacious burrows of the large callianassid ghost shrimp, Glypturus armatus . The Indonesian specimen recently reported by Anker et al. (2015) was collected from a burrow of unknown host, on a shallow sea grass flat with abundance of mounds and burrow entrance holes of G. armatus (A. Anker, pers. obs.). Similarly, the specimen from Iriomote Island was collected from a burrow on an intertidal sand-mud flat with some sea grass, however, without a clear evidence for callianassid association.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A, Naushonia carinata Dworschak, Marin & Anker, 2006, female (pocl 7.1 mm) from Iriomote, Japan, RUMF-ZC 3677, living individual, dorsal view; B, Naushonia japonica Komai, 2004, female (pocl 5.3 mm) from Katsuura, Japan, CBM- ZC 12594, living individual, dorsal view.