Plesionika pumila Chace, 1985

Li, Xinzheng & Komai, Tomoyuki, 2003, Pandaloid Shrimps From The Northern South China Sea, With Description Of A New Species Of Plesionika (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 51 (2), pp. 257-275 : 267-268

Plesionika pumila Chace, 1985

( Fig. 7 )

Plesionika pumila Chace, 1985: 100 , fig. 45, 46 [type locality: western part of Basilan Strait , Mindanao, the Philippines].

Material examined. – 2 ovig. females (cl 5.0, 5.5 mm) ( IOCAS), CN 19-13 , Beibu Bay , 18 00’N, 108 30’E, 79 m, muddy sand, AT, coll. Z. Fan, 28 Jan.1959 ; 1 ovig. female (cl 4.6 mm) ( IOCAS), CN Q618-10 , 18 45’N, 108 30’E, 20 m, muddy sand, BT, coll. F. Xu, 17 Apr.1959 ; 1 ovig. female (cl 3.5 mm) ( IOCAS), CN R45 B-30, 18 15’N, 108 45’E, 39 m, sandy mud, AT, coll. Z. Fan, 16 Jul.1959; 2 females (cl 4.2, 4.7 mm) ( IOCAS) , CN R42 B-27B, 18 15’N, 109 00’E, 24 m, sand, AT, coll. F. Xu, 16 Jul.1959 .

Distribution. – Previously known only from the western end of Basilan Strait, the Philippines, at depths of 46 m. The present material from the northern part of the South China Sea at depths of 20-79 m extends its geographical range to north and west.

Remarks. – Plesionika pumila has been previously represented only by the type material from the Basilan Island, the Philippines. The present specimens agree well with the original description of the species by Chace (1985), particularly in the following diagnostic features: rostrum armed dorsally with 4 teeth in basal part, including one on the carapace posterior to orbital margin, all with bluntly barbed tips; fourth and fifth abdominal somites each with posteroventral tooth on pleuron; telson about as long as sixth abdominal somite, bearing 4 pairs of dorsolateral spinules, including pair adjacent to lateral pair of posterior spines; stylocerite acute, very short, at most reaching the half of first antennular segment; third maxilliped with epipod, penultimate segment 0.60 as long as terminal segment; anterior 4 pairs of pereopods with hooked epipods; left second pereopods with carpus consisting of about 37 articles; third pereopod with dactylus 0.36 times as long as propodus, devoid of accessory spinules on flexor margin. In the present material, the second pereopods are distinctly unequal; the right (shorter) second pereopods, which remains unknown before, with the carpus consists of 11 articles.

This species is apparently similar to P. longidactylus , new species. The affinities between these two species are discussed under the account of the new species.

Figures

Fig. 7. Plesionika pumila Chace, 1985. a, body, lateral view; b, right third maxilliped, ventral view; c, left first pereopod, mesial view; d, right second pereopod, lateral view; e, left second pereopod, lateral view; f, left third pereopod, lateral view; g, same, dactylus and apical propodus; h, left fifth pereopod, lateral view. Ovigerous female from the South China Sea (CN Q618-10, IOCAS). Scale = 2 mm (a-c, f, h); 1 mm (d, e); 0.4 mm (g).