Munidopsis curvirostra Whiteaves, 1874

Macpherson, Enrique & Segonzac, Michel, 2005, Species of the genus Munidopsis (Crustacea, Decapoda, Galatheidae) from the deep Atlantic Ocean, including cold-seep and hydrothermal vent areas, Zootaxa 1095 (1), pp. 1-60 : 21

Munidopsis curvirostra Whiteaves, 1874

Munidopsis curvirostra Whiteaves, 1874: 212 .—Udekem d’Acoz, 1999: 167 (list of occurrences).— Baba, 2005: 287 (list of occurrences and references).

Material examined. Bay of Biscay, BIOGAS 1, Stn CM01 , 47º44.3’N, 08º51W, 1010 m, 04.08.1972: 1 male 6.0 mm, 1 female 4.6 mm.— Stn CW 3, 47º31’N, 08º17’W, 1100 m, 05.08.1972: 2 ovig. females 8.0– 10.4 mm. Off Ireland, INCAL, Stn DS 01, 57°59.2’N, 10°41.3’W, 2091 m, 15.07.1976: 1 male 4.5 mm, 2 females 3.3 mm, 3 juveniles 2.6–3.0 mm.— Stn DS 02, 57°58.5’N, 10°49.2’W, 2081 m, 16.07.1976: 1 female 3.0 mm. NE Tropical Atlantic, EUMELI 2, Stn CP 03, 20º41.30’N, 18º32.60’W, 2114 m, 05.02.1991: 12 males 7.1–9.8 mm, 16 ovig. females 7.0– 11.2 mm, 3 females 6.5–6.9 mm.— Stn CP 04, 20º33’N, 18º35’W, 2003 m, 06.02.1991: 17 males 4.7–8.4 mm, 9 ovig. females 8.0– 11.1 mm, 3 females 5.7–5.8 mm, 3 juv. 2.2–2.4 mm.— Stn CP 05, 20º30.51’N, 18º33.74’W, 1855 m, 06.02.1991: 11 males 4.6–9.0 mm, 9 ovig. females 7.2–9.5 mm, 2 juv. 3.6–3.7 mm. NE Tropical Atlantic, EUMELI 4, Stn CP 16, 20º32’N, 18º36’W, 2042 m, 05.06.1992: 8 males 5.4–11.0 mm, 13 ovig. females 7.1–12.7 mm, 2 females 7.4–8.1 mm. NE Atlantic, PROSPEC, Stn CPH 06, 56º39.970’N, 09º45.378’W, 1734 m, 08.07.1996: 5 males 8.0– 11.8 mm, 4 ovig. females 9.9–10.5 mm.— Stn CPH 07, 56º41.710’N, 09º36.924’W, 1607 m, 08.07.1996: 6 males 8.3–10.3 mm.— Stn CPH 10, 55º18.687’N, 10º14.833’W, 1589 m, 12.07.1996: 1 ovig. female 8.5 mm .

Remarks. Munidopsis curvirostra belongs to the group of species with the carapace lateral margin with an anterolateral spine only, two epigastric spines and a row of spines in the dorsal midline, the rostrum spiniform being more than two­thirds as long as the remainder of the carapace and strongly upcurved, the front margin without antennal spine, abdominal segments 2 and3 with median spine, segment 4 unarmed; the cornea oval, about half or slightly more than half the length of the ocular peduncle, the eye­spine absent, the first walking leg not reaching end of the cheliped, the merus of the cheliped lacking spines, other than distal spines, the meri of the walking legs relatively slender, not keeled dorsally, and epipods absent from pereiopods.

The species is very close to M. acuta (A. Milne Edwards, 1881) from the Bay of Biscay, and M. longirostris (A. Milne Edwards & Bouvier, 1897) from Morocco, respectively. These two species are considered to be junior synonyms of M. curvirostra ( Hansen 1908, see A. Milne Edwards 1883, edition of 1997). However, a complete revision of the type material of these species would be desirable in order to confirm the existence of one or several taxa (Udeken d’Acoz 1999).

Distribution. Northwest Atlantic, Gulf of St Lawrence, 146–403 m (type locality, Whiteaves 1874, see also Smith 1886, Squires 1990), Davis Straits, Iceland, 349–975 m ( Hansen 1908), Ireland, 1797 m (Selbie 1914), S of Greenland ( Heegaard 1941), southeast of Newfoundland, 1100 m ( Sivertsen & Holthuis 1956), Portugal and Morocco, 1716–1912 m ( Türkay 1976), Middle Atlantic Bight, 636–2200 m ( Wenner 1982), Bay of Biscay, 1845–2430 m (de Saint Laurent 1985); British Isles ( Moyse & Smaldon 1990), Morocco ( Garcia­Raso 1996). The species has been also cited at the Lord Howe Ridge, southwest Pacific, at 1210 m (Khodkina 1981). The present material has been collected in the northeast Atlantic, from Ireland (57º59’N) to Mauritania (20º30’N), between 1010 and 2114 m.