Homolochunia valdiviae Doflein, 1904

Forges, Bertrand Richer De & Ng, Peter K. L., 2008, New western Pacific records of Homolidae De Haan, 1839, with descriptions of new species of Homolochunia Doflein, 1904, and Latreillopsis Henderson, 1888 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura), Zootaxa 1967, pp. 1-35 : 6

Homolochunia valdiviae Doflein, 1904

( Figs. 3A, B, 4A, 5A, B, 6A)

Homolochunia valdiviae Doflein, 1904: 22 , pl. 1, fig. 1–2, pl. 9, fig. 1–8, pl. 10, fig. 1–2, pl. 43, fig. 1, pl. 49, fig. 3, pl. 51, fig. 2.

Homolochunia valdiviae – Ihle 1913: 65, fig. 33. — Gordon 1950: 224, fig. 18A–C. — Griffin & Brown 1976: 250. — Kensley 1981a: 60. — Kensley 1981b: 37. — Guinot & Richer de Forges 1981: 549, fig. 4K, 6A1, A2, pl. 5, fig. 1, 1a–d. — Guinot & Richer de Forges 1995: 430: fig. 50c–d, 51a–c. — Ng et al. 2008: 40.

Material examined. Indonesia: Mollucas , KARUBAR cruise, stn. CC 21, 5°14’S 133°00’E, 688–694 m, 25 October 1991: 1 male (24.6 x 18.4 mm) ( MNHN-B 22486 ) . Madagascar: stn. 37, 12°51’S 48°06.3’E, 675–705 m, coll. A. Crosnier, 14 December 1972: 1 male (33.8 x 24.1 mm) ( MNHN-B 7019 ) .

Remarks. Homolochunia valdiviae was described from off east Africa ( Doflein 1904). It was later recorded from Madagascar, Seychelles and Indonesia ( Ihle 1913; Gordon 1950; Griffin & Brown 1976; Kensley 1981a, b). Guinot & Richer de Forges (1995), in their revision of the family, recognised specimens identified as this species from Japan ( Sakai 1955; Miyake 1983; Nagai 1994) as a new species, H. gadaletae Richer de Forges & Guinot, 1995 . These two species are easily differentiated by the shape of the subcheliform P5 ( H. valdiviae : Fig. 6A; H . gadaletae: Fig 6C). This species lives on muddy bottoms, between 400 and 1000 m, depths which are relatively deeper than that reported for H. gadaletae which is 150 to 250 m.