Carcinoplax fasciata Ng & Kumar, 2016

Ng, Peter K. L. & Castro, Peter, 2020, A revision of Carcinoplax abyssicola (Miers, 1885) and seven related species of Carcinoplax H. Milne Edwards, 1852, with the description of two new species and an updated key to the genus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Goneplacidae), Zoosystema 42 (17), pp. 239-284 : 268

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5252/zoosystema2020v42a17
publication LSID	urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:52C73176-6867-4415-A6FA-BAD328E9781D
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4525507
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038B3E2C-FF81-FF99-A6A0-6923FC4EB279
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Carcinoplax fasciata Ng & Kumar, 2016
status

Treatment

Carcinoplax fasciata Ng & Kumar, 2016 View in CoL

( Figs 18 View FIG ; 25 View FIG J-P)

? Carcinoplax specularis View in CoL [part] – Castro 2007: 641 View Cited Treatment [ Maldives].

Carcinoplax fasciata Ng & Kumar, 2016: 193 View in CoL View Cited Treatment , figs 1-4 [type locality: Kerala, India].

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Arabian Sea • ♂, 25.8 × 19.3 mm, DABFUK, India.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Arabian Sea, off Kerala, India.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — India. Holotype ♂, 25.8 × 19.3 mm; Arabian Sea, Neendakara fishing port, Kerala, southwestern India ; 8°38›N 76°14’E; 450-500 m depth; coll. B. Kumar, from trawler, 27.XI.2015; DABFUK.

DIAGNOSIS (HOLOTYPE MALE, FEMALES UNKNOWN). — Carapace ( Fig. 18A, B View FIG ) quadrate, slightly wider than long (1.3 × wider than long in holotype); slightly convex, smooth. Front ( Fig. 18C, D View FIG ) straight, notch between front, inner edge of supraorbital border absent. Slightly pointed, short tooth on outer orbital angle preceded by low protuberance near orbit; two slender, acute-tipped anterolateral teeth on each side of carapace, first slightly curved. Conspicuous granules on subhepatic, pterygostomial regions ( Fig. 18C, D View FIG ), becoming more pronounced in pterygostomial crest, ridge; short granules on anterior. Posterior margin of epistome ( Fig. 18C, D View FIG ) sinuous, with median salient tip, lateral margins wide, strongly concave. Distal third of fingers pale brown ( Figs 21A, I, J View FIG ; 28G View FIG ). “Window” not observed on cheliped propodi. Inner (ventral), distal margin of cheliped carpus ( Fig. 18G, H View FIG ) with long, acute tooth. P2-P5 ( Fig. 18A View FIG , 28G View FIG ) moderately short in appearance, P5 just reaching base of second anterolateral tooth. Male pleon ( Fig. 18E View FIG ) proportionally narrow. G1 ( Fig. 25 View FIG J-L) slender, straight; slightly pointed tip with scattered spinules, distal end slightly distended; G2 ( Fig. 25 View FIG M-P) slender, slightly longer than G1, slightly curved flagellum, tip weakly birufcated, sharp.

COLOUR IN LIFE. — “Dorsal surfaces of carapace and chelipeds bright orange; tips of anterolateral teeth and cheliped carpal spine white; fingers of chelipeds mostly white except for orange base, distal third light brown; ambulatory legs with dorsal surfaces mostly orange except for white patches on propodus, ventral surfaces paler; prominent red band present that stretches from ventrum of posterolateral carapace margin to below frontal margin; rest of ventral surfaces pinkish-white.” ( Ng & Kumar 2016: 197) ( Fig. 28G View FIG ).

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. — Western India.

DEPTH. — 450- 500 m.

REMARKS

Carcinoplax fasciata is unusual among the species treated here in that its life coloration is distinctive. The front has a prominent red band below it and the fingers of the cheliped are not pigmented black, with only the distal part light brown ( Fig. 28G View FIG ). The condition of the fingers is most like C. polita and C. jugum n. sp., although in these species, the distal parts of the fingers are black or dark brown ( Figs 16H View FIG ; 17I View FIG ; 21I, J View FIG ; 22I, J View FIG ), not pale brown. The life coloration of C. jugum n. sp., unfortunately, is not known. The posterior margin of the epistome of C. fasciata ( Fig. 18C, D View FIG ) most closely resembles that of C. jugum n. sp. with the median part salient and the lateral margins wide and prominently concave ( Figs 21C, D View FIG ). The dorsal carapace features of C. fasciata are, however, very different, being evenly convex ( Fig. 18A, B View FIG ); in C. jugum n. sp. (and C. polita ) the gastric and cardiac regions are distinctively swollen laterally and the surface appears gently corrugated with a distinct transverse furrow between the regions ( Figs 16A, B View FIG ; 17A, B, E View FIG ; 27G, H View FIG ). The G1 of C. fasciata is distinct among the species treated here in that it is relatively straight with the structure gradually tapering from the broad base ( Fig. 25J View FIG ), although the distal part ( Fig. 25K, L View FIG ) resembles those of C. abyssicola , C. longipes , and C. verdensis ( Fig. 23B, C, F, G, J, K View FIG ; 24B, C View FIG ).