Anaspides clarkei, Ahyong, Shane T., 2015

Ahyong, Shane T., 2015, Preliminary diagnoses of three new species of Tasmanian mountain shrimps, Anaspides Thomson, 1894 (Syncarida, Anaspidacea, Anaspididae), Zootaxa 3957 (5), pp. 596-599 : 596-597

Anaspides clarkei sp. nov.

( Fig. 1A–D )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: SAM BS 1848a, male (29 mm), Exit Cave, Ida Bay Karst, Tasmania, Australia, coll. E. Hamilton Smith, 24 May 1969. PARATYPES: SAM BS 1848b, female (32 mm), Exit Cave, Ida Bay Karst, Tasmania, Australia, coll. E. Hamilton Smith, 24 May 1969; AM P73045, 1 female (18 mm), Base Camp Tributary, Exit Cave, Ida Bay Karst, Tasmania, Australia, 43°28.2'S, 146°51'E, coll. S. Gersbach (#64631); TMAG, 1 female (38 mm), Exit Cave, Ida Bay Karst, Tasmania, Australia, from rock pool in Skeleton Creek, IB-120, coll. A. Clarke, 20 January 1998.

Diagnosis. Anaspides with telson posterior margin rounded, lined with 4–7, stout, well-spaced spines. Eyes with cornea strongly reduced; cornea length distinctly shorter than half length of stalk, narrower than stalk; corneal pigmentation reduced or absent. Outer antennular flagellum distinctly longer (> 0.6) than half body length. Inner antennular flagellum of adult males with 4 cone setae on mesial margin of segment 7. Male pleopod 1 distally widened, scoop-like, lateral margins expanded, obscuring subdistal lobe in lateral view.

Etymology. Named for Arthur Clarke, University of Tasmania, who provided useful advice and collected cave material critical to this study.

Remarks. The troglobitic Anaspides clarkei sp. nov. is the most distinctive species of the genus in having the posterior margin of the telson armed with few (4–7) stout, well-spaced spines (versus a row of more than 20 closelyspaced spines in adults), the strongly reduced cornea, and outer antennular flagellum that is distinctly longer than half the body length (versus half body length or shorter).

Anaspides clarkei is known from the neighbouring Ida Bay and Hastings karst systems (Exit Cave and Wolf Hole, respectively), southern Tasmania, showing troglobitic adaptations such as the reduced corneal size with degenerate ommatidial facets, minimal or no pigmentation, and proportionally much longer antennular flagella (distinctly longer than half body length versus no longer than half).

Figures

FIGURE 1. A – D, Anaspides clarkei sp. nov., holotype male, male (29 mm), Exit Cave, Ida Bay Karst (SAM BS 1848 a); E – H, Anaspides jarmani sp. nov., holotype male, 24 mm, Adamson’s Peak, Hartz Mountains National Park (AM P 73039); I – L, Anaspides swaini sp. nov., holotype male (27 mm), Weld River (AM P 73042). A, D, G, anterior cephalothoorax, dorsal view; B, F, J, right antennule, dorsal view; C, G, K, right male pleopod 1, lateral view; D, H, L, telson, posterior portion. Scale: A = 0.7 mm, B – D = 1.4 mm; H, L = 0.5 mm, F – H, J – L, I = 1.0 mm.