Lepidophthalmus rosae ( Nobili, 1904 )

Poore, Gary C. B., 2023, New records and one new species of Callichiridae (Crustacea, Axiidea) from the Indo-West Pacific, with keys to species of Corallianassa, Lepidophthalmus and Neocallichirus, Memoirs of Museum Victoria (Mem. Mus. Vic.) 82, pp. 71-95 : 75

Lepidophthalmus rosae ( Nobili, 1904)

Callianassa (Callichirus) rosae Nobili, 1904: 237 .— Nobili, 1906: 108–110, pl. 7 fig. 2.—De Man, 1928a: 29, 110.— Balss, 1933: 88–89, fig. 2.

Lepidophthalmus rosae .— Sakai, 1999: 71, fig. 14g –h.— Sakai, 2005: 151, figs 30–32. — Poore et al., 2019: 144.— Robles et al., 2020: figs 1, 4, 7, tables S1, S2.

Callianassa rosae .— Tudge et al., 2000: 143.

Lepidophthalmoides rosae .— Sakai, 2011: 444.— Sakai and Türkay, 2014: 179.

Material examined. Australia, Northern Territory, Darwin Harbour, Vesteys Beach, 12° 22' S, 130° 50' E, intertidal, NTMAG Cr 016691 (2 males, 11, 14 mm; 3 females, 12–15 mm). Fannie Bay Beach, 12° 25' S, 130° 50' E, intertidal, NTMAG Cr016692 (2 males, 11, 13 mm; 3 ovigerous females, 13–14 mm), NTMAG Cr013046 (ovigerous female, 15 mm), NTMAG Cr013047 (3 males, 6–8 mm), NTMAG Cr016693 (male, 8 mm). Gove, sandy beach and reef, 12° 12' S, 136° 43' E, intertidal, NTMAG Cr009850 (5 males, 4–9 mm) .

Diagnosis. Major cheliped carpus, propodus, dactylus upper margins without teeth. Rostrum acute, simple. Cl. to 16 mm.

Distribution. Western and Central Indo-Pacific (Red Sea [type locality]; Madagascar; Indonesia; Australia, NT; Philippines).

Remarks. Lepidophthalmus rosae is notable for the sharp curved proximal spine on the lower margin of the merus of the major cheliped, prominent in males, combined with the subrectangular telson with a bilobed posterior margin, broader than long, and lanceolate acute uropodal endopod. The species has been recorded from the type locality in the Red Sea to Indonesia ( Balss, 1933; Sakai, 2005), Madagascar ( Sakai, 1999) and the Philippines ( Sakai, 2005). It is no surprise that it is common on beaches in northern Australia.