Naushonia serratipalma Komai & Anker, 2010

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 : 354-356

Naushonia serratipalma Komai & Anker, 2010

Figs. 7 , 8

Naushonia serratipalma Komai & Anker 2010: 38 , figs. 1C, 5–7 (type locality: Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia).— Anker 2014: 760 (key), 767, fig. 6 (Moorea).

Material examined. Saudi Arabia: 1 female (pocl 3.0 mm), Red Sea coast, Al Lith, sta. SAFA-039, 20°16.72’N, 40°22.33’E, silt-sand flat with coral rubble, near small young mangrove, 1–2 m, coll. A. Anker et al., 21 March 2013, BDJRS-3079, FLMNH UF Crustacea 35970. French Polynesia: 1 female (pocl 4.4 mm), Society Islands, Moorea Island, near Papetoai, 0–1 m, sand flat with mounds, coral rubble and living corals, under coral, 23 November 2008, coll. A. Anker, FLMNH UF Crustacea 16537.

Description. See Komai & Anker (2010).

Colouration in life. Body and appendages whitish with pale orange-yellow tinge ( Fig. 8 ).

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific: French Polynesia (Society Islands) ( Komai & Anker 2010; Anker 2014; present study) and Saudi Arabia (Red Sea coast) (present study).

Remarks. Naushonia serratipalma was originally described based on a female holotype from Moorea, French Polynesia ( Komai & Anker 2010), with a subsequent record of another female specimen from the same locality in Anker (2014). The Saudi Arabian specimen, if confirmed to be conspecific with N. serratipalma (see below), would represent a significant range extension of the species, with the geographic range possibly spanning the entire tropical Indo-West Pacific from the Red Sea to French Polynesia.

Among the species characterized by the non-carinate pleomeres and marginally unarmed pleura, N. serratipalma is morphologically closest to N. latimana , N. macginitiei and N. perrieri . The four species share the presence of less than 10 teeth on the lateral margin of the antennal scaphocerite, with the terminal tooth pointing straight-forwards, not incurved. However, N. serratipalma can be distinguished from the other three species by the distinctly serrated proximal part of the occlusal margin of the cheliped palm vs. non-serrated in N. latimana , N. macginitiei and N. perrieri (cf. Glassell 1938; Ngoc-Ho 1996; Komai & Anker 2010).

The topotypic specimen from Moorea generally agrees with the holotype, differing only in the slightly broader rostrum and weaker sculpture on the pleonal tergites (cf. Komai & Anker 2010). The apparently young specimen (cl 3.0 mm) from Saudi Arabia differs from the French Polynesian specimens in the relatively narrower rostrum with stronger marginal teeth ( Fig. 7 A); the possession of two or three minute denticles, instead of only one denticle, on the lateral margin of the telson ( Fig. 7 B); having no trace of sculpture on the pleonal tergites; and the relatively more slender cheliped palm (cf. Fig. 8 A and Komai & Anker 2010: fig. 1C). In all other diagnostic features, such as the proximal part of the occlusal margin of the cheliped palm serrated with small teeth ( Fig. 7 C) and the antennal scaphocerite bearing five or six teeth on the lateral margin, including one straight terminal tooth ( Fig. 7 A), the Saudi Arabian specimen agrees well with N. serratipalma . Similar intraspecific variation in the shape and armature of the rostrum is known in N. carinata ( Dworschak et al. 2006) and N. lactoalbida (see above), whereas the number of denticles on the lateral margin of the telson is also variable in N. japonica (see above).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Naushonia serratipalma Komai & Anker, 2010, female (pocl 3.0 mm) from Al Lith, Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, FLMNH UF Crustacea 35970. A, anterior part of carapace and cephalic appendages, dorsal view; B, right cheliped, dorsal view (damaged on mesial side); C, same, ventral view; D, telson, dorsal view (setae omitted). Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 8. Naushonia serratipalma Komai & Anker, 2010, female (pocl 3.0 mm) from Al Lith, Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, FLMNH UF Crustacea 35970, living individual in dorsal and lateral views.