Alima neptuni ( Linnaeus, 1768 )

Ahyong Kumejima, Shane T., 2012, Stomatopod Crustacea of the KUMEJIMA 2009 Expedition, Japan *, Zootaxa 3367, pp. 232-251 : 244-245

Alima neptuni ( Linnaeus, 1768) *#

( Fig. 4I)

Cancer neptuni Linnaeus, 1768: 226 [type locality: Bimini Harbor, Bimini Islands, Straits of Florida, by neotype selection

( Holthuis 2000)]. — Holthuis 2000: 17–18. Alima hyalina Leach in Tuckey, 1817: unnumbered plate in appendix IV to Tuckey [Porto Praya, Cape Verde Islands]. Alima gracilis H. Milne Edwards, 1837: 509 [type locality: Bimini Harbor, Bimini Islands, Straits of Florida, by present neotype selection]. Alima angusta Dana, 1852: 631 [type locality: Bimini Harbor, Bimini Islands, Straits of Florida, by present neotype selection]. Squilla alba Bigelow, 1893: 103 [type locality: Bimini Harbor, Bimini Islands, Straits of Florida]. Alima gracillima Borradaile, 1907: 216 , pl. 22, fig. 5 [type locality: Western Indian Ocean]. Alima neptuni . — Ahyong 2001: 188–189; 2002a: 362.

Material. RUMF-ZC-01285, 1 female (TL 26 mm), Suna Point, 26°18´N, 126°50.244´E, <9 m, sand, rubble, dive 9, 11 Nov 2009.

Remarks. The single specimen of A. neptuni collected here represents the first record of the species from Japanese waters and agrees well with published accounts ( Manning 1977; Ahyong 2001, 2002a). The abdominal carinae are spined as follows: submedian 6, intermediate 5–6, lateral 5–6, marginal 3–5.

Confusion has long surrounded the identities of A. neptuni and its suggested synonyms, A. alba ( Bigelow, 1893) [type locality: Bimini Islands], A. angusta Dana, 1852 [original type locality: eastern Atlantic Ocean, 02°30’N, 17°15’W], A. gracillima Borradaile, 1907 [type locality: western Indian Ocean]; A. gracilis H. Milne Edwards, 1837 [original type locality: Indian Ocean]; A. hyalina Leach, 1817 [type locality: Cape Verde Islands] ( Manning 1962; Schotte & Manning 1993; Holthuis 2000). Apart from A. alba , all of these names were erected based on larval forms. Holthuis (2000) took the first formal step towards stabilizing these names by fixing a neotype for A. neptuni using the lectotype of A. alba (USNM 18495, female, TL 41 mm) making the two nomina objective synonyms. The identities of Alima angusta and A. gracilis , however, remained ambiguous, both too being originally based on larvae, for which the type material is now lost. To stabilize the identities of Dana’s and Milne Edwards’ species, the neotype of A. neptuni (= lectotype of A. alba ) is selected as the simultaneous neotype of both A. angusta and A. gracilis . Thus, A. angusta , A. alba and A. gracilis are each objective synonyms of A. neptuni , each having its name anchored to the same specimen and same type locality, the Bimini Islands.

As suggested by Manning (1969), A. gracillima , described from larvae collected in the western Indian Ocean, probably represents an early larva of A. neptuni (as A. hyalina ).

Distribution. All tropical oceans except the eastern Pacific. In the Indo-West Pacific, ranging from the western Indian Ocean to Hawaii and French Polynesia.