Munidopsis crassa Smith, 1885

Macpherson, Enrique & Segonzac, Michel, 2005, Species of the genus Munidopsis (Crustacea, Decapoda, Galatheidae) from the deep Atlantic Ocean, including cold-seep and hydrothermal vent areas, Zootaxa 1095 (1), pp. 1-60 : 20

Munidopsis crassa Smith, 1885

Munidopsis crassa Smith, 1885: 494 .

Munidopsis crassa .— Baba, 2005: 140, 286, figs 58–60 (complete synonymy and references).

Not Munidopsis crassa Segonzac, 1992: 596 (= M. exuta n. sp.).

Material examined. Off Namibia, WALDA, Stn CY 09, 19º10’S, 09º18’E, 4613 m, 23.06.1971: 1 ovig. female 42.4 mm.— Stn CY10 , 18º28’S, 10º31’E, 3530 m, 28.06.1971 : 1 male 20.7 mm, 1 female 16.2 mm.—Stn CY11 , 17º30’S, 09º27’E, 4335 m, 30.06.1971 : 1 ovig. female 50.6 mm. Bay of Biscay , BIOGAS 2, Stn CV18 , 47º32’N, 09º36’W, 4120 m, 18.04.1973 : 1 juv. Bay of Biscay , BIOGAS 5, Stn CP 06, 44º20’N, 04º54’W, 4460 m, 20.06.1974 : 1 female 25.4 mm. Bay of Biscay , BIOGAS 6, Stn CP 20, 44º23’N, 04º51’W, 4459 m, 29.10.1974 : 1 male 34.0 mm, 1 female 20.9 mm. Bay of Biscay , ECOFER 1, Stn CP 01, 44º05.09’N, 02º34.05’W, 3058 m, 05.07.1989 : 1 female 13.9 mm. NE Tropical Atlantic, EUMELI 3, Stn MAC4, 21°03.81'N, 31°12.21'W, 4626 m, 21.09.1991: 1 female 18.7 mm. NE Atlantic, BENGAL 3, Stn 13200/70, 48º51.62’N, 16º31.80’W, 4847 m, 20.07.1997: 2 males 34.3­49.5 mm.—Stn 13200/93, 48º50.55’N, 16º25.30’W, 4846 m, 25.07.1997: 1 male 19.5 mm. NE Atlantic, BENGAL 5, Stn 13368/52, 48º48.30’N, 16º25.97’W, 4839 m, 19.03.1998: 2 males 32.4–50.1 mm.—Stn 13368/53, 48º49.98’N, 16º33.53’W, 4844 m, 19.03.1998: 1 ovig. female 32.1 mm, 1 female 11.4 mm. NE Atlantic, BENGAL 6, Stn 13627/11, 48º47.82’N, 16º40.37’W, 4847 m, 01.10.1998; 1 male 24.9 mm, 1 female 24.7 mm.

Remarks. The species was redescribed by Baba (2005), providing a complete list of synonymies and occurrences. Munidopsis crassa is characterized by the presence of distinct spines on the gastric and anterior branchial regions, the rostrum is somewhat upcurved, the cornea is relatively small with its greatest width clearly less than the width of antennal article 3 at midlength, abdominal segment 6 with a strongly produced posteromedian flap, the eyestalk is short relative to length, with mesial eye­spine, the fixed finger of the chelipeds without a denticulate carina on the distolateral margin, the first walking leg overreaching end of the cheliped, the dactyli of the walking legs with the length­breadth ratio at most 5, the flexor margin having ultimate tooth closer to the penultimate than the tip of the terminal claw, and epipods on the chelipeds. The specimens collected on the Mid­Atlantic­Ridge and identified as M. crassa by the late M. de Saint Laurent ( Segonzac 1992) correspond to M. exuta (see below).

Distribution. North and Central Atlantic, from North Carolina (type locality) to the Bay of Biscay, Azores, Canary Islands, Middle Atlantic Bight, Caribbean Sea, between 2679 and 5315 m ( Smith 1885, A. Milne­Edwards & Bouvier 1899, Bouvier 1922, Gordon 1955, Sivertsen & Holthuis 1956, Pequegnat & Pequegnat 1971, Türkay 1975, Wenner 1982). Recently the species has been cited in the Tasman Sea, at 3580 m ( Baba 2005). The specimens examined here were collected from the northeast Atlantic, off France (48º51’N), to the southeast Atlantic (off Namibia, 23º10’S), between 3058 and 4847 m. The occurrence of this species at the Atlantic hydrothermal vents (Mid­Atlantic Ridge) is not confirmed.