Liomera margaritata (A. Milne-Edwards, 1873)

Iwasa-Arai, Tammy, McCallum, Anna W. & Taylor, Joanne, 2015, Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve survey reveals new records of xanthid crabs (Crustacea: Brachyura: Xanthidae) from northern Australia, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 73, pp. 1-11 : 5

Liomera margaritata (A. Milne-Edwards, 1873)

( Figure 1E )

Carpilodes margaritatus Milne-Edwards A., 1873: 182, pl. 5, fig. 2.— Henderson, 1893: 353. — Whitelegge, 1897: 131.— Alcock, 1898: 85.— Odhner, 1925: 24, pl. 2, fig. 4.— Gravely, 1927: 146, pl. 21, fig. 26. —de Man, 1929a: 1. —de Man, 1929b: 2.— Chopra & Das, 1937: 395, fig. 5.— Sakai, 1939: 476, fig. 36.— Lin, 1949: 22.— Serène & Luom, 1960: 174, 178(key), 185, fig. 2F, pl. 2D.— Buitendijk, 1960: 261, fig. 3b.— McNeill, 1968: 74.

Liomera margaritata . — Sakai, 1965b: 144, pl. 72, fig. 3.— Guinot, 1967: 266. — Serène, 1968: 72. — Sakai, 1976: 396, fig. 211. — Dai & Yang, 1991: 271, fig. 145 (2), pl. 34 (2).— Yu et al., 1996. — Jeng, 1997.— Davie, 2002: 543.

Liomera (Liomera) margaritata . — Serène, 1984:63, fig.23, pl. 7A.

Chlorodius exiguus Targioni Tozzetti, 1877: 48 , pl. 4, figs 1-5, 9.— Odhner, 1925: pl. 5, figs 8, 8a.

Carpilodes striatus de Man, 1887: 232 , pl. 8, fig. 1.

Carpilodes ruber . — Ortmann, 1893: 468. (not A. Milne Edwards, 1865)

Carpilodes diodoreus Nobili, 1906a: 403 .— Nobili, 1906b: 216, pl. 10, fig. 9.— Klunzinger, 1913: 138.

Not Carpilodes rugipes (Heller, 1861) .—Rathbun, 1910: 351.

Not Carpilodes margaritatus . — Lanchester, 1900 b: 731. = aff. Atergatopsis amoyensis de Man, 1879 .

Material examined. NMV J46928 , 1 male, Cb= 16.3 mm, Cl= 9.8 mm (acq. 292) Survey SS 2012t 07, Stn 11, 10°57.66'–57.73'S, 136°47.68'– 47.94'E, 108.8– 92.8 m, Benthic sled, 18/10/2012 . NMV J10923 , 1 female, Cb= 9.1 mm, Cl= 5.7 mm, Australia, Queensland, Dingo Beach. Coll. 08/08/1971 .

Comparative material examined. QM W36046 , 1 male, Cb= 14.6 mm, Cl= 9.4 mm, Great Barrier Reef Seabed Diversity Survey. Site id: 2731: 22°2.7'S, 150°36.3'N, 53.4 m , RV Lady Basten , 23/09/2004 ; QM W37911 , 1 male, Cb= 21.6 mm, Cl= 13.4 mm, Site id: 2126 : 22°59.7'S, 149°58.5'N, 52.9 m , RV Lady Basten, 29/09/2004 .

Colour in life. Carapace orange with white anterolateral margins, 1P, 2P and 3R white. Ambulatory legs orange. Chelipeds orange dorsally and white ventrally with dark brown fingers. Abdomen white (Fig. 5).

Colour in preservative. Carapace pale orange with white anterolateral margins, 1P, 2P and 3R white. Ambulatory legs light orange. Chelipeds orange dorsally and white ventrally with dark brown fingers. Abdomen white.

Remarks. Within the genus Liomera , this species is characterised by a completely divided 2M region, which makes it similar to, Liomera monticulosa (A. Milne-Edwards, 1873), Liomera rugipes (Heller, 1861) , and Liomera rubra (A. Milne-Edwards, 1865). It differs from the latter three species, which have 1M separated from the interior part of 2M. Serene (1984) describes L. margaritata with well-defined regions 4L, 5L, and 6L, but in our specimens these regions are fused and not well defined. Also, colour in live specimens are different, described as uniformly pale violet by Serene (1984), while our specimens are orange colour with white anterolateral margins. As the G1 morphology agrees well with illustrations of L. margaritata provided by Serene (1984), we conclude that the variation described above is likely to be intra-specific.

Distribution. Queensland (Great Barrier Reef, NE coast); Indo-west central Pacific Oceans ( Madagascar and Red Sea to Japan, New Guinea, Samoa, New Caledonia). Depth range subtidal– 107 m.

Figures

Figure 1. A, Actaeodes mutatus Guinot 1976, female, 18.1 X 11.5 mm (NMV J46921); B, Paractaea rufopunctata plumosa Guinot, in Sakai, 1976, male, 29.1 X 19.7 mm (NMV J46922); C, Euxanthus sp., male, 8.12 X 5.83 mm (NMV J46923); D, Liomera edwardsi Kossmann, 1877, male, 9.37 X 5.83 mm (NMV J46927); E, Liomera margaritata, male, 16.3 X 9.8 mm (NMV J46928); F, Atergatopsis granulata A. Milne Edwards, 1865, female, 19.6 X 12.9 mm (NMV J46929); G, Atergatopsis alcocki, male, 32.4 X 22.4 mm (NMV J46930); H, Lophozozymus dodone (Herbst, 1801), male, 16.7 X 10.4mm (NMV J46931). Photos: T. Iwasa-Arai.