Fennerogalathea Baba, 1988

Rodriguez-Flores, Paula C., Machordom, Annie & Macpherson, Enrique, 2017, Three new species of squat lobsters of the genus Fennerogalathea Baba, 1988 (Decapoda: Galatheidae) from the Pacific Ocean, Zootaxa 4276 (1) : -

Fennerogalathea Baba, 1988

Fennerogalathea Baba 1988: 60 (gender: feminine).— Baba 2005: 68 (key).— Baba et al. 2008: 60 (list of species and synonymies).— Baba et al. 2009: 98.— Macpherson & Baba 2011: 53.

Remarks. Prior to the present study, the genus Fennerogalathea Baba, 1988 contained two species: F. chacei Baba, 1988 (type species of the genus) from the Bali Sea, off south-west Luzon , and Taiwan, at 100–165 m ( Baba 1988; Baba et al. 2009), and F. chirostyloides Tirmizi & Javed, 1993 , from the Bay of Bengal, at 2417 m. Unfortunately, the type material of F. chirostyloides (three males, with P1–4 missing in all specimens) is probably lost ( Baba et al. 2008). Nevertheless, the depth of occurrence of this species, clearly deeper than in all other species of the genus (100–321 m, see below), recommends a further study with topotypic material. Tirmizi & Javed (1993) did not provide any difference between the two species, although Baba (2005) indicated that the two species could be separated by the presence in F. chacei instead of absence in F. chirostyloides of a tuft of setae on the median part of anterior transverse ridge of abdominal somites 2–4. This tuft of setae is always present in the three new species described in the present study.