Bermudacaris Anker and Iliffe, 2000

Anker, Arthur, Poddoubtchenko, Denis & Marin, Ivan N., 2006, On the presence of the alpheid shrimp genus Bermudacaris Anker and Iliffe, 2000 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea) in the Pacific Ocean, with description of a new species from Vietnam, Journal of Natural History 40 (27 - 28), pp. 1675-1686 : 1676-1677

Bermudacaris Anker and Iliffe, 2000

Bermudacaris Anker and Iliffe 2000, p 762 .

Emended diagnosis

Carapace glabrous, without grooves or sutures; branchiostegial margin without notch or pronounced ventral lip; cardiac notch well developed. Frontal margin with broadly rounded rostral projection; orbital teeth absent. Pterygostomial angle rounded. Eyestalks completely exposed in dorsal and lateral view, subparallel, cornea small, more or less pigmented, sometimes almost depigmented. Antennular peduncle slender, first segment with acute ventromesial tooth; stylocerite not appressed, distally acute; second segment longer than broad; lateral antennular flagellum not bifurcating. Antenna with basicerite not particularly robust, bearing ventrolateral tooth; carpocerite overreaching scaphocerite. Mouthparts not especially modified; mandible with two-segmented palp; first maxilliped with segmented palp and narrow caridean lobe; second maxilliped with ovate epipod. Third maxilliped pediform, lateral plate with more or less elongated posterior process; ultimate segment elongated, armed with spines on dorsal surface and tip; exopod short. First pereiopods (chelipeds) enlarged, equal in size, symmetrical in shape, carried extended, with dactylus in ventral position; ischium with dorsal spines; merus unarmed or bearing row of spinules mesially; carpus cup-shaped, with short rows of setae mesially; chela with palm ovate, smooth, linea impressa and adhesive discs absent; finger cutting edges unarmed or furnished with irregular teeth, snapping mechanism absent. Second pereiopod with fivesegmented carpus, second segment longer than first. Third pereiopod with ischium unarmed or armed with spine on ventral margin, merus and carpus unarmed; propodus with spines on ventral margin, dactylus simple, conical. Fifth pereiopod with propodus bearing brush of setae distally. Abdomen with pleura rather feebly produced ventrally; sixth abdominal somite without posterolateral articulated plate. Male second pleopod with appendix interna and appendix masculina (needs confirmation for two Indo-West Pacific species). Uropod with diaeresis more or less developed, sinuous. Telson with two pairs of dorsal spines and two pairs of posterolateral spines; posterior margin short; anal tubercles absent. Gill/exopod formula: five pleurobranchs (P1–5), one arthrobranch (Mxp3), one podobranch (Mxp2), two lobe-like epipods (Mxp1–2), five strap-like epipods5mastigobranchs (Mxp3, P1–4), five sets of setobranchs (P1–5), three exopods (Mxp1–3).

Type species

Bermudacaris harti Anker and Iliffe, 2000 (by original designation).

Other species included

Bermudacaris australiensis Anker and Komai, 2004 ; Bermudacaris britayevi n. sp. (see below).

Distribution

Atlantic Ocean: Bermuda, Mallorca ( Spain); Indian Ocean: northwestern Australia, possibly Madagascar ( Anker and Komai 2004; see also below); Pacific Ocean: Vietnam (present study).

Remarks

Bermudacaris can be distinguished from the closely related genera, Automate de Man, 1888 and Coronalpheus Wicksten, 1999 by the equal, symmetrical, inverted chelipeds (versus unequal, asymmetrical, non-inverted in Automate and Coronalpheus ); the posteriorly more or less elongated lateral plate of the third maxilliped (versus rounded in Automate and Coronalpheus ); the frontal margin with broadly rounded rostral projection (versus with small triangular rostrum or without rostrum in Automate and Coronalpheus ). Bermudacaris harti differs specifically from all species of Automate by the presence of a small appendix masculina in males ( Hart and Manning 1981; Anker and Iliffe 2000). However, the validity of this feature in generic diagnosis must be first confirmed for the two remaining species, B. australiensis , known from a single ovigerous female specimen ( Anker and Komai 2004), and B. britayevi n. sp., described below on the basis of a single non-ovigerous specimen lacking appendix masculina on the second pleopod, and therefore, presumably a female.