Nephropsis agassizii A. Milne-Edwards, 1880

Alves-Júnior, Flavio De Almeida, Araújo, Marina De Sá Leitão Câmara De & Souza-Filho, Jesser F., 2016, Distribution of two species of Nephropsis Wood-Mason, 1872 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Nephropidae) from northeastern Brazil, Zootaxa 4114 (1) : -

Nephropsis agassizii A. Milne-Edwards, 1880

( Fig. 1 , 2 )

Nephropsis Agassizii A. Milne Edwards 1880: 1 .— Filhol, 1885: 144, pl. 1 fig. 5.— De Man 1916: 97, 110, 111.

Nephropsis agassizii .— Fowler 1912: 569.— Roe 1966: 92 — Manning 1969: 308.— Firth & Pequegnat 1971: 89.—Coelho & Ramos- Porto 1985: 65.—Tavares 1998: 377.— Tavares & Young 2002: 81.— Serejo et al. 2007: 140.

Material examined. Brazil, Potiguar Basin: MOUFPE 15.152 , 1 female (TL 103 mm), 1 male (TL 74 mm), 04°29.43'S, 036°24.15'W, Bpot-Talude MT- 83 , 2138 m, 0 5 May 2011 .

Geographic distribution. ( Fig. 2 ) Western Atlantic including the Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Tobago and Brazil: Potiguar Basin (New record) and States of Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo ( Holthuis 1974, 1991; Tavares 1999; Tavares & Young 2002; Serejo et al. 2007).

Bathymetric distribution. The specimens were collected at 2138 m, although it is more common between 878 and 2900 m ( Holthuis 1974, 1991; Tavares & Young 2002; Serejo et al. 2007).

Remarks. The carapace was slightly granular, with well marked ridges. The female has a broken rostral spine, but the characteristic two pairs of spines as still evident ( Holthuis 1974). As reported by Holthuis (1974), the chelipeds are densely plumose with 6–9 spines on the propodus, pleopods uniramous in the female, one or two protruding spines on the second abdominal somite, uropods with endopods and exopods with a terminal spine. Nephropsis agassizii is a small deepwater species from sandy or muddy substrates. It is only occasionally captured during exploratory trawling, but never in great quantities ( Holthuis 1974, 1991).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Nephropsis agassizii A. Milne-Edwards, 1880, female, TL 103 mm, Bpot-Talude MT- 83, MOUFPE 15. 152. A, dorsal habitus; B, carapace, dorsal view; C, abdomen, right lateral view. Scale bar = 1 cm.

FIGURE 2. Geographic distribution of Nephropsis agassizii A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 and Nephropsis neglecta Holthuis, 1974 in the Atlantic Ocean. Black symbols = previous records; gray symbols = new records.