Bythograea intermedia, DE SAINT LAURENT, 1988

Martin, Joel W. & Haney, Todd A., 2005, Decapod crustaceans from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps: a review through 2005, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (4), pp. 445-522 : 489

BYTHOGRAEA INTERMEDIA DE SAINT LAURENT, 1988

Type locality: East Pacific Ocean, EPR, Galapagos Rift, Rose Garden vent; 00°48.25′N, 86°13.30′W; 2460 m .

Known range: Known only from the type locality.

Material: type locality; Alvin dive 983; 30 November 1979; USNM 180065 (holotype 1 megalopa) ( de Saint Laurent, 1988). See Guinot & Hurtado (2003) and below for additional material and for clarification of type materials and USNM catalogue numbers.

Remarks: Hessler & Martin (1989: 645) lamented the fact that this species was erected ‘on the basis of a single megalopa larva and on the assumption that some of the smaller juveniles described by Williams (1980) were of this previously described species’ (see also Guinot, 1997, in Desbruyères & Segonzac, 1997). Guinot & Hurtado (2003) clarified this by noting that de Saint Laurent (1988) actually never saw the juvenile she selected as the holotype of B. intermedia , which came from a lot of juveniles identified by Williams as B. thermydron . About this lot, Guinot & Hurtado (2003: 432) stated: ‘The exact locality of the juvenile material of Williams, which perhaps contains B. thermydron mixed with B. intermedia , is unknown.’ Furthermore, the holotype is actually a juvenile (now USNM 268862), and the megalopa noted above is a paratype (now USNM 180065), according to Guinot & Hurtado (2003). The similarity between de Saint Laurent’s description and specimen and the description of B. galapagensis by Guinot & Hurtado is such that comparisons ‘do not allow us to establish whether they correspond to the same species’ ( Guinot & Hurtado, 2003: 432). Because the species description ‘was based on a total of six early crab stages and a megalopa, all mixed with B. thermydron specimens from the original collection of the Galapagos Rift studied by Williams (1980),’ Guinot & Hurtado (2003) felt that this is ‘a poorly known species’. We agree with that assessment and believe that B. intermedia is of questionable status and in need of re-evaluation.