Neaxiopsis euryrhynchus (De Man, 1905 )

Poore, Gary C. B. & Dworschak, Peter C., 2018, The Indo-West Pacific species of Neaxiopsis and Neaxius (Crustacea: Axiidea: Strahlaxiidae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria (Mem. Mus. Vic.) 77, pp. 15-28 : 16

Neaxiopsis euryrhynchus (De Man, 1905)

Axius (Neaxius?) euryrhynchus De Man, 1905: 590 .—De Man, 1925c: 3, 12, 31, pl. 1 fig. 2.

Axius (Neaxius) gundlachi var. orientalis De Man, 1925b: 122– 125 , fig. 2, 2b.—De Man, 1925c: 4, 12, 31 (type locality: Matupi [now Matupit I.] near Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea).

Axius (Neaxius) euryrhynchus .— Miyake, 1982: 90, 192 (list), pl. 30 fig. 5.

Neaxiopsis euryrhynchus .— Sakai and de Saint Laurent, 1989: 33.

Neaxiopsis euryrhyncha .— Sakai, 2011: 321–323, fig. 60.

Material examined. Réunion. Off Sainte Anne , 21° 00.6'S, 55° 43.8'E, 45 m (Expediton MD32 stn DR154), MNHN IU-2016-8079 (male, 3.5 mm) .

Type locality. Anchorage off Dongala, Palos-bay, Sulawesi, Indonesia, 36 m ( Siboga stn 86) .

Distribution. Japan; Indonesia, Sulawesi; Papua New Guinea, New Britain; Réunion; to 36 m depth.

Remarks. De Man (1925c) believed that the syntypes of Axius ( Neaxius ?) euryrhynchus are “a very young stage” of Axius (Neaxius) g undlachi orientalis , both described by him from the south-western Pacific. He synonymised the two names. Sakai (2011) argued first (p. 321) that Neaxiopsis euryrhynchus and N. gundlachi von Martens, 1872 , a species from the Caribbean, are distinct species but then argued (pp. 323–324) for the synonymy of “ N. orientalis ” and N. gundlachi . He said both share a row of tubercles along the carina of the pereopod 1 palm but did not explain the state of this character in N. euryrhynchus . On purely biogeographic criteria, De Man’s synonymy is the more probable.

Miyake (1982) recorded a female with total length of 69 mm from Japan. Sakai and de Saint Laurent (1989) doubted this was the same species on the basis of its size. The syntypes of A. (N.?) euryrhynchus are 11 mm long juveniles, while the syntypes of A. (N.) g undlachi orientalis range in length from 48 to 74 mm. Miyake’s (1982) specimen is within this range.

The specimen from Réunion is very small but shares the characteristic rostrum, cheliped dentition and tail fan. Assuming cryptic species are not involved, the record extends the species’ range throughout the Indo West-Pacific.

The specific name is a noun and does not follow the gender of the genus name.