Leptochelia forresti ( Stebbing 1896 )

Abarca-Ávila, Mónica Mariel, Herrera-Dorantes, María Teresa, Winfield, Ignacio & Ardisson, Pedro-Luis, 2019, Updated checklist and identification key of benthic tanaidaceans (Crustacea Peracarida) of the sublittoral zone of the northern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Zootaxa 4711 (1), pp. 51-76 : 66-67

Leptochelia forresti ( Stebbing 1896)

( Fig. 4 H–I)

Examined material. TA: 288 individuals. CNCR 34802 . Tr-Loc : M50- Chabihau , Yucatan, Mexico 21°22’4.329’’N 89°4’13.659’’W, 22 ♀, four ♀ m, nine ♂, five juv, 20 May 2005, 27 November 2005, 12 March 2006, coll. AV, SP ; Tr-Loc : M51- Santa Clara , Yucatan, Mexico 21°23’41.709’’N 88°53’21.159’’W, 92 ♀, five ♀ o, 73 ♀ m, 45 ♂, one juv, one man., 20 May 2005, 27 November 2005, 12 March 2006, coll. AV, SP ; Tr-Loc : M52- Dzilam , Yu- catan, Mexico 21°25’57.859’’N 88°44’7.216’’W, one ♀, 15 May 2005, 13 November 2005, 13 March 2006, coll. AV, SP ; Tr-Loc : M54- Dzilam , Yucatan, Mexico 21°32’35.659’’N 88°29’57.616’’W, one ♀, one ♀ m, one ♂, 15 May 2005, 13 November 2005, 13 March 2006, coll. AV, SP ; Tr-Loc : M55- Dzilam , Yucatan, Mexico 21°34’3.9’’N 88°22’39.608’’W, 13♀, ten ♀ m, two ♂, one juv, 15 May 2005, 13 November 2005, 13 March 2006, coll. AV, SP ; Tr-Loc: M56- San Felipe, Yucatan, Mexico 21°34’32.739’’N 88°14’24.248’’W, one ♂, 16 May 2005, 12 November 2005, 18 March 2006, coll. AV, SP ; collected at depths of 0.2–2.9 m, in coarse sand, medium sand, fine sand, and very fine sand, with Caulerpa , H. wrightii , Syringodium , and T. testudinum

.

Local distribution. ( Table 1 , Fig. 2 ).

Geographical distribution. GoM: south Florida, Tuxpan-Lobos Protected Natural Area, Veracruz Reef System National Park, Bajos de Sisal Reef System; Caribbean Sea: Puerto Morelos Reef National Park and coast of Quintana Roo, southeast of Cuba, Antigua, Puerto Vargas and Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, Gairaca Bay, Colombia; Atlantic Ocean: north coast of Brazil.

Recognition characters. Body with small dark spots in both sexes. Female: uropodal endopod with six articles, exopod uniarticulate and shorter than the first article of endopod. Male: antennule as long as the length of the body; cheliped slender and longer than the total length of the body, fixed finger with a rounded process on distal inner margin; uropodal endopod with six articles.

Remarks. It inhabits between 0 and 200 m perpendicular to the shoreline, associated with mangrove roots, sponges ( A. compressa , A. crassa , A. fistularis , C. nucula , I. birotulata , I. felix , I. strobilina ), seagrasses ( T. testudinum ), algae ( A. fragilissima , B. tenella , C. cervicornis , C. dasyphylla , D. dichotoma , D. obtusata , Rhipocephalus , U. lactuca ), cnidarians ( Eunicea flexuosa Lamouroux ), coral rubble, coral reefs, wood, soft bottoms and as part of the encrusting barnacles, at depths 5 to 50 m.

References. Heard et al. (2004); Suárez-Morales et al. (2004), Winfield et al. (2007a, 2007b); Heard & Anderson (2009);

Heard et al. (2009); Winfield et al. (2010); Winfield et al. (2013); Guţu (2016); García-Madrigal et al. (2005); Jarquín-

González et al. (2015); Winfield et al. (2017), Cházaro-Olvera et al. (2018).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Diversity, abundance, and distribution of tanaidaceans of the sublittoral zone of the northern Yucatan Peninsula.

FIGURE 4. Tanaidaceans species of the sublittoral zone of the northern Yucatan Peninsula, suborder Tanaidomorpha. (A) Parakonarus juliae ♀; (B) P. juliae ♂; (C) Alloleptochelia longimana ♀; (D) A. longimana ♂; (E) Cacoheterotanais rogerbamberi ♀; (F) Hargeria rapax ♀; (G) H. rapax ♂; (H) Leptochelia forresti ♀; (I) L. forresti ♂; (J) Leptochelia sp. aff. savignyi ♀; (K) L. sp. aff. savignyi ♂; (L) Zeuxo cf. kurilensis ♀; (M) Z. cf. kurilensis ♂.