Gnathophylloides mineri Schmitt

Prakash, Sanjeevi, Kumar, Thipramalai Thangappan Ajith & Subramoniam, Thanumalaya, 2015, Notes on some Indo-Pacific Caridean shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Palaemonidae and Gnathophyllidae) particularly from India, Zootaxa 3914 (4), pp. 456-466 : 464

Gnathophylloides mineri Schmitt

( Figure 4 C, D)

Restricted synonymy:

Gnathophylloides mineri Schmitt, 1933: 7 , fig. 3; Lewis, 1956: 288, figs. 1–2; Bruce, 1974a: 313, fig. 1; Chace and Bruce, 1993: 134; Li, 1997: 226, fig. 3

Material examined. 3 individuals (ovigerous) (tl 4.8–5.5 mm; cl 0.8–1.3 mm), Agatti Island, Lakshadweep, rocky intertidal, 10o50’44.40”N 72o11’23.21”E, coll. S. Prakash and T. Marudhupandi, 13th November 2011, ( MBRC /ZSI M1-60).

Diagnosis. Rostrum and short, dentate with equidistant tooth behind the acute tip, second maxilliped conventional, not elongate, third maxilliped similar to that of Gnathophyllum . Eye is stout and without tubercle; dactylus of ambulatory legs are short, stout and terminal claw armed with slender spines below; telson bears two pairs of spines on the lateral sides and at the end with short outer spines and long inner spines with a median pointed projection.

Color. Body white with broad longitudinal dark brown band extending from the basicerite posteriorly to the pleuron of the fifth abdominal segment. The upper parts of the basicerite and pleura are completely white and ambulatory pereiopods are more translucent.

Habitat. Our specimens were collected from the intertidal area at a depth of 0.5–1m along with the host Tripneustes sp.

Distribution. Indo-Pacific: Seychelles, Zanzibar, New South Wales, Australia, Hawaii and Western Atlantic to Florida. Now from India.

Remarks. Our specimens agree well with the description of Schmitt (1933) and Bruce (1974a). This shrimp can be readily separated from all other gnathophyllid species by the presence of wide dark brown longitudinal stripe on the lateral side. This is recorded for the first time in Indian waters.

Figures

FIGURE 4. A. Stegopontonia commensalis Nobili, ovigerous female (lateral view) on the spines of host sea urchin Echinothrix sp. from Lakshadweep; B, Gnathophyllum americanum Guerin Meneville, ovigerous female (dorsal view) on its host sea urchin Diadema sp. from Lakshadweep; C, Gnathophylloides mineri Schmitt, ovigerous female (dorso-lateral view) on its host sea urchin Tripneustes sp. from Lakshadweep; D, same (lateral view).