Mclaydromia colini Guinot and Tavares, 2003

Manikandan, K, Megalaa, N, Valliappan, Subramanian, Nandini, K, Rani, Lourdu V, Dakshinamurthi, Senthil & Nagappan, Nagappan, 2022, Crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Seas of East and Southeast Asia Collected by the RV Hakuhō Maru (KH- 72 - 1 Cruise) 3. Sahul Shelf, Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science. Series A, Zoology 48 (2), pp. 35-83 : 39

Mclaydromia colini Guinot and Tavares, 2003

( Fig. 13C)

Material examined. RV Hakuhō Maru KH-72-1 cruise, sta. 29, 1Ə ( CB 4.5×CL 5.1 mm), NSMT-Cr 30698.

Remarks. The present male of Mclaydromia colini ( Fig. 13C) is small, but agrees in general with the photograph of Dromidiopsis dubia Lewinsohn, 1984 reported by McLay (1993) from New Caledonia. According to Guinot and Tavares (2003), however, the New Caledonian specimens are specifically different from a female reported from Madagascar, and both species are generically independent from the genus Dromidiopsis Borradaile, 1900 . The present male is confidently referred to Mclaydromia erected to accommodate the two species, with distinguishing characters including the free pleonal somites (fifth and sixth somites fused in Dromidiopsis , and the subequal propodi of the P4 and P5 (propodus of P5 much longer in Dromidiopsis ). The rostrum is small, inclined downwards and not visible from above, giving the front a bidentate appearance as result of the pair of prominent, anteriorly-directed pseudorostral teeth.

Mclaydromia colini differs from M. dubia in: 1) the wide, prominent, anteriorly-produced pseudorostral teeth; 2) the cheliped carpus dorsal surface is ornamented with conspicuous tubercles; 3) the carapace suborbital margin is abruptly interrupted, leaving a deep and broad hiatus between the suborbital lobe and antenna; and 4) the anterolateral tooth of the carapace is a small and rounded, but clearly visible. It is conspicuous that the carapace in M. colini is distinctly longer than wide, with two blunt anterolateral teeth; the dorsal surface is strongly convex laterally, ill-defined and covered with very short velvety tomentum.

Distribution. New Caledonia and now from Australia, 14–62 m depth.