Hymenopenaeus halli Bruce, 1966

Crosnier, Alain & Dall, William, 2004, Redescription of Hymenopenaeus obliquirostris (Crustacea, Decapoda, Penaeoidea, Solenoceridae) and descriptions of two new species of Hymenopenaeus from the Indo­West Pacific, Zootaxa 600, pp. 1-26 : 14-17

Hymenopenaeus halli Bruce, 1966 ( Figs. 9 b, c, 10)

Hymenopenaeus halli Bruce, 1966: 216 , figs. 1, 2. — Burukovsky, 1974: 46 (key); 1983: 62 (key). — Crosnier, 1978: 120, figs. 39d, 40d, 42c, 43b, 45a–d, 46b–c; 1985: 24; 1989: 52, figs. 2d, 4d; 1994a: 353; 1994b: 369. — Kensley, 1980: 53; 1981: 19. — De Freitas, 1984: 24 (key); 1985: 29, fig. 11–13. — Kensley et al., 1987: 274. — Liu & Zhong, 1988: 70, fig. 30. — Hayashi, 1985: 21 (key), 22, fig. 84; 1986: 45, colour photo 5; 1992: 182, figs. 97, 100. — Pérez Farfante & Kensley, 1997: 173. — Poupin, 1996: 4, pl. 1, fig. c (colour photo); 1998: 5. — Dall, 1999: 566, fig. 8B. — Lee et al., 1999: 444 (list); 2001: 56, figs. 2E, 3E–G, 4C, pl. 1C.

Hymenopenaeus obliquirostris de Man, 1911: 36 [non Bate, 1881].

Material examined. We are not detailing here the very numerous collections at our disposal, mentioning only that they come from Madagascar, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Chesterfield Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga Islands and French Polynesia (Marquesas and Austral Islands).

Remarks. This species, as the above synonymy shows, has an abundance of descriptions and figures, which we will not dwell on here, but will stress the differences between the specimens from diverse origins, variations which, in the majority of cases, are difficult to quantify.

These variations in particular bear on:

﹤ The rostrum, which shows the same variations in shape, length and slenderness found in other species of Hymenopenaeus .

﹤ The first rostral tooth is usually clearly in advance of the posterior rim of the orbit, but sometimes at the same level.

﹤ The size of the eyes (often difficult to measure owing to the poor state of preservation). For example, the specimens collected off the northeastern coast of Australia during the cruise CIDARIS had eyes intermediate in size between those of specimens from Madagascar, Philippines, New Caledonia and Polynesia and those of H. obliquirostris ( Fig. 9 ). ﹤ The size of the spines on the carapace, in particular those on the branchiostegite. The specimens from the northeast coast of Australia and the Austral Islands ( French Polynesia) display spines a little longer than those on specimens from Madagascar, Philippines and New Caledonia.

﹤ The shape of the tooth between the female fourth pereopods. Usually more or less flat and elongate ( Fig. 10 a, e), this tooth can be small and conical, as previously illustrated by Hayashi (1992, fig. 100d).

﹤ The trapezoidal space formed by the posterior lateral ridges of the last thoracic sternite of the female varies much in height and width with the various regions.

We note here that the keys of Burukovsky (1974, 1983) are in error, as they show that H. obliquirostris has a spine on the merus of the first pereopods, but is absent in H. halli (the inverse of what is actually observed).

Colour. Several colour photographs of this species are available. They lack uniformity. Those of Hayashi (1986) show a specimen with an abnormal rostrum and with a scarlet­red colour, totally different from the whitish­yellow or pink colour which one of us (A.C.) has observed during various cruises at sea. The specimen in the photograph published by Lee et al. (2001) has a yellowish abdomen, much closer to reality. In a photograph taken near the Chesterfield Islands, the body is pinkish­red, the rostrum and postrostral teeth and the antennular flagella white, with the distal region of the external uropods a dark violet.

Distribution. The geographic distribution of this species covers a major part of the Indo –West Pacific. It has been collected from the East African coast and Madagascar to Australia, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna Islands and French Polynesia (Marquesas and Austral Islands), at depths between 400 and 1320 m.

Figures

FIGURE 9. — Shape of the eye, a, Hymenopenaeus obliquirostris (Bate, 1881), Ψ 23.9 mm, syntype, Kermadec Islands (NHM 1888.22); b, Hymenopenaeus halli Bruce, 1966, Ψ 23.5 mm, CIDARIS, northeast coast of Australia, Stn 45 ­ 3, 17 ° 33,12 ' S, 146 ° 55,92 ' E, 908 – 926 m (MNHN­Na 15043); c, Hymenopenaeus halli Bruce, 1966, Ψ 22.1 mm, Madagascar, northwest coast, VAUBAN, Stn CH 85, 12 ° 39,4 ' S, 48 ° 12,8 ' E, 550 m (MNHN­Na 7370). All figures are to the same scale.

FIGURE 10. — Hymenopenaeus halli Bruce, 1966, a­b, Ψ 26.9 mm, Chesterfield Islands, MUSORSTOM 5, Stn 384, 756 ­ 772 m (MNHN­Na 15044), a, thelycum, ventral view, b, longitudinal median section of sternites XIII and XIV; c, Ψ 26.4 mm, Vanuatu, MUSORSTOM 8, Stn CP 993, 780 ­ 783 m (MNHN­Na 15064), posterior view of sternite XIII; d, Ψ 21, 0 mm, Vanuatu, MUSORSTOM 8, Stn CP 1127, 1052 ­ 1058 m (MNHN­Na 15045), longitudinal median section of sternites XIII and XIV; e, Ψ 23.6 mm, Chesterfield Islands, MUSORSTOM 5, Stn 384, 756 – 772 m (MNHN­Na 15046), longitudinal median section of the tooth on sternite XIII; f – g, k, ɗ holotype, 22.5 mm, 19 ° 22 ' N, 114 ° 11 ' E, depth, 400 – 435 m, 7.01. 1964 (after Crosnier & Forest, 1973) (NHM 1965.1.7.1), petasma, right half, f, internal face; g, external face; k, posterior face; h, ɗ 18.1 mm, Vanuatu, MUSORSTOM 8, Stn CC 996, 764 – 786 m (MNHN­Na 15047), distal lobules of the median lobes; i, ɗ 20.3 mm, ibidem (MNHN­Na 15048), idem; j, ɗ 21.8 mm, Chesterfield Islands, MUSORSTOM 5, Stn 384, 756 – 772 m (MNHN­Na 15063), idem. Scale, a, b, f, g, 5 mm; c, d, 2 mm; e, h, i, j, k, 1 mm.