Neocallichirus grandimana ( Gibbes, 1850 )

Pachelle, Paulo P. G. & Tavares, Marcos, 2020, Axiidean ghost shrimps (Decapoda: Axiidae, Callianassidae, Callichiridae Micheleidae) of the Trindade and Martin Vaz Archipelago, Vitória-Trindade Seamounts Chain and Abrolhos, off southeastern Brazil, Zootaxa 4758 (1), pp. 103-126 : 116-119

Neocallichirus grandimana ( Gibbes, 1850)

( Figures 10–12 )

Trindade specimens. 1 male, cl 4.7 mm, 1 female, cl 8.0 mm ( MZUSP 36406 ), Brazil, off Espírito Santo, Trindade Island, Ponta Norte , 20º29’18.7’’S– 29º20’18.3’’W, 14.2 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça Jr, 02.vii.2015 . 4 females, cl 6.1– 7.4 mm ( MZUSP 36407 ), idem, 13.3 m, 05.vii.2012 . 1 male, cl 7.6 mm, 3 females, cl 6.0–9.0 mm ( MZUSP 36408 ), idem, 12.8 m, 17.vii.2013 . 1 male, cl 10.9 mm ( MZUSP 40076 ) , 1 male 17.5 mm ( MZUSP 40078 ) , 1 female, cl 12.5 mm ( MZUSP 40079 ), idem, 10.7 m, 27.xi.2017 . 1 male, cl 5.0 mm ( MZUSP 36405 ) , 1 female, cl 7.1 mm ( MZUSP 36404 ), idem, 20º29’40.2’’S– 29º20’32.9’’W, 14.2 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça Jr, 07.v.2014 . 2 males cl 12.2, cl 21.1 mm ( MZUSP 36410 ), Ponta do Monumento , 20º30’10.3’’S– 29º20’36.1’’W, 12.1 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça Jr, 16.vi.2012 . 1 male, cl 13.5 mm, 1 female, cl 15.1 mm ( MZUSP 29587 ), Praia da Calheta / SECON, 20º30’20.9’’S– 29º18’43.7’’W, 12.3 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça Jr, 18.vi.2012 . 3 males, cl 7.5–13.0 mm, 1 female, cl 12.7 mm ( MZUSP 29588 ), idem, 03.vii.2012 . 1 male, cl 22.5 mm ( MZUSP 29589 ) , 1 female, cl 11.5 mm ( MZUSP 29590 ), idem, 11 m, 11.xi.2014 . 1 female, cl 19.9 mm ( MZUSP 36409 ), Praia do Lixo , 20º31’29.8’’S– 29º19’43.9’’W, 14.5 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça Jr, 22.iv.2014 . 4 females, cl 8.0–10.0 mm ( MZUSP 40080 ), idem, 22.xi.2017 . 1 female, cl 6.4 mm ( MZUSP 36403 ), idem, 20º31’33.9’’S– 29º19’33.6’’W, 18.5 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça Jr, 06.vii.2015 .

Comparative material examined. Neocallichirus grandimana . United States: 1 female, cl 8.0 mm ( MZUSP 26419 ), Florida, Gulf of Mexico coast, Boca Grande, S.A. Rodrigues coll., 10.ii.1967 . Brazil: 3 females cl. 11.0– 17.0 mm ( MZUSP 26417 ), Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, along right margin of Potengi River , near a Yatch Club, S. A. Rodruigues coll., 25.ii.1984 . 1 male, cl. 9.5 mm ( MZUSP 18588 ), Bahia, Coroa Vermelha, Praia Grande, M. Tavares coll., 10.i.2007 . Neocallichirus cacahuate Felder & Manning, 1995 . 1 male, cl 8.4 mm ( MZUSP 32615 ) , Brazil, Ceará, Icapuí, Praia de Tremembé , sand-mud flat, in burrow, suction pump, coll. P. Pachelle, 10.ii.2014 .

Distribution. Western Atlantic: Bermuda, east and west coasts of Florida, Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Curaçao, Tobago, Venezuela, and Brazil (Pará, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Bahia, Trindade Island) ( Coelho et al. 2007; Sakai 2011; Pachelle et al. 2017; present study). Eastern Atlantic: Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador ( Lemaitre & Ramos 1992; Ayón-Parente et al. 2014).

Remarks. The present collection contains numerous specimens of different sizes, which allowed for the examination of changes in morphology over ontogeny. We found that the rostrum is more pronounced and acute in the developing specimens, becoming distinctly shorter and blunter in adults ( Figure 11 A–D). The sharp tooth at the carapace infraorbital angle of developing specimens is missing in the adults ( Figure 11 A–D). The distal projection of the ocular peduncles is broadly rounded in the developing specimens, whereas in adults it becomes narrower and develops into a lateral blunt tooth ( Figure 11 A–D). The much larger cornea of the developing specimens occupies most of the width of the ocular peduncle (see also Felder and Manning 1995), whose ocular pigment is well distributed in the ommatidia, whereas with growth the cornea reduces gradually reduced to a third of the width of the ocular peduncle while the ocular pigment becomes more concentrated in the most central ommatidia ( Figure 11 A–D). In the developing specimens the telson bears a median sharp tooth on its distomesial margin and cuspidate setae on the distolateral margins, while in adults the telson median sharp tooth is absent and the cuspidate setae distinctly smaller ( Figure 11E, F ). The uropodal endopods are narrower in the developing specimens than in adults ( Figure 12E, F ). Finally, young individuals have the major first pereopod merus, carpus and propodus generally smoother on the lower margins and slender fingers, whereas in larger specimens the lower margins of merus, carpus and propodus are more toothed and the fingers wider dorsoventrally ( Figure 12G, H ).

Developing specimens of N. grandimana can be confused with N. cacahuate Felder & Manning, 1995 , a species previously known from USA (Florida) and Venezuela (Sucre), and recently reported from the northeastern Brazilian coast by Pachelle et al. (2017). Felder & Manning (1995) have discussed the shared characters between developing specimens of N. grandimana and N. cacahuate ; the following remarks are in addition to their findings. The developing female of N. grandimana illustrated herein (MZUSP 36404), as well as other small specimens examined, is similar to the male MZUSP 32615 of N. cacahuate in the presence of a sharp tooth on the infraorbital angle, in the strongly bulbous, wide corneas, and in the major pereopod 1 merus, carpus and propodus obscurely toothed ventrally and chela fingers slender ( Figures 11A , 12G . For N. cacahuate , see Pachelle et al. 2017: figs. 4A, 5A). In addition, in the developing female MZUSP 36404 from Trindade the carapace frontal margin and the development of the eyes are similar to those of the immature (cl 7.2 mm) female paratype of N. cacahuate from Florida ( Figure 11A . For N. cacahuate , see Felder & Manning 1995: fig. 5a). Developing specimens of N. grandimana also have the right maxilliped 3 propodus distal margin notched, while full-grown specimens have entire propodal distal margins ( Figure 12 A–B). Sometimes, however, the notched and entire conditions are found in the right and left maxilliped 3 propodus, respectively, of the same developing specimen ( Figure 12 C–D). Similarly, the developing specimens MZUSP 32615 of N. cacahuate have slightly notched propodal distal margin ( Pachelle et al. 2017: fig. 4c), whereas the full-grown male holotype has entire propodal distal margins ( Felder & Manning 1995: fig. 2g). Both, full-grown and developing specimens of N. grandimana can be separated from N. cacahuate especially by the major cheliped carpus being less than half of the palm length (vs. carpus almost as long as palm in N. cacahuate ), and the rounded lateral lobe on the male pleopod 1 (vs spine-shaped in N. cacahuate ) ( Figure 12G, H . For N. cacahuate , see Felder & Manning 1995: fig. 1b, c, e, f).

Lemaitre & Ramos (1992) compared specimens of N. grandimana from the Pacific coasts of Colombia and Ecuador with the neotype from Florida, and concluded that they were conspecific. Recently, Ayón-Parente et al. (2014) reported three additional specimens from the tropical eastern Pacific ( Mexico) but, while acknowledging the morphological similarities between the Pacific and Atlantic counterparts, questioned the identity of the Pacific populations on the ground that amphi-American distributions for tropical shallow water species are not likely to occur. Until more compelling evidence is available, the known range of N. grandimana is herein regarded as widely disjunct.

Coelho & Coelho-Santos (1993) recorded N. grandimana from northern Brazil (Pará). Although likely, this record cannot be evaluated because the aforementioned authors referred to no voucher specimens for it. The present material from Trindade Island represents the southernmost record of the species in the South Atlantic.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Neocallichirus grandimana (Gibbes, 1850): (A) Female (cl 7.1 mm, MZUSP 36404) and (B) male (cl 22.5 mm, MZUSP 29589), Trindade Island, off Espírito Santo, Brazil, in lateral and dorsal views, respectively.

FIGURE 11. Neocallichirus grandimana (Gibbes, 1850): variations on the specimens from Trindade Island, off Espírito Santo, Brazil. (A, E) Female (cl 7.1 mm, MZUSP 36404); (B) Male (cl 4.7 mm, MZUSP 36406); (C) Female (cl 6.4 mm, MZUSP 36403); (D, F) Male (cl 22.5 mm, MZUSP 29589). (A–D) Frontal margin of carapace and eyes; (E, F) Distal margin of telson.

FIGURE 12. Neocallichirus grandimana (Gibbes, 1850): variations on the specimens from Trindade Island, off Espírito Santo, Brazil. (A, F) Male (cl 22.5 mm, MZUSP 29589); (B, H) Female (cl 12.7 mm, MZUSP 29588); (C–E, G) Female (cl 7.1 mm, MZUSP 36404). (A–C) Right maxilliped 3, carpus, propodus and dactylus, lateral view; (D) Left maxilliped 3, carpus, propodus and dactylus, lateral view; (E, F) Left uropodal endopod, dorsal view; (G, H) Major (left) pereopod 1, lateral view.