Rare deep-water crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) from Indian waters, with description of one new species

Abstract

Deep-water brachyuran crabs collected from the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone by the Fishery Oceanographic Research Vessel "Sagar Sampada" in the southeastern Arabian Sea (50 m depth), southwestern Bay of Bengal (307 m depth), and in the vicinity of the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelagos (271-535 m depth) were studied. They are referred to Sphaerodromia kendalli (Alcock and Anderson, 1894) and Sphaerodromia nux Alcock, 1900 (family Dromiidae), Intesius brevipes sp. nov. (family Mathildellidae), Tunepugettia corbariae B.Y. Lee, Richer de Forges and P.K.L. Ng, 2019 (family Epialtidae), Cyrtomaia suhmii Miers, 1885 (family Inachidae), Chaceon alcocki Ghosh and Manning, 1993 (family Geryonidae), and Sphenomerides trapezioides (Wood-Mason, 1891) (family Trapeziidae). Sphaerodromia nux and T.corbariae are new records from Indian waters. The first male specimen of C. alcocki is reported, with a description of the male first gonopod. Intesius brevipes sp. nov. is the fifth species of the genus, differing from the four known congeners in the form and setation of the carapace, distinctly curved and granular anterolateral margins, and shorter pereopods with much slender merus and carpus articles.

Spider crabs of the Samadinia pulchra complex (Crustacea: Decapoda: Epialtidae)

“…Despite the good collections of S. livermorii from the western and eastern Indian Ocean, none are yet known from intermediate localities, almost certainly an artefact of limited sampling at outer shelf and slope depths in the Indian region. Only in recent years have efforts to document the Indian deep-water crustacean fauna accelerated (e.g., Ahyong & Kumar, 2018;Devi et al, 2019;Ng et al, 2019;Macpherson et al, 2020;Padate et al, 2020Padate et al, , 2021Padate et al, , 2022, so it is likely that S. livermorii will eventually be found there. All known specimens of S. livermorii are from Indian Ocean localities.…”

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“…Despite the good collections of S. livermorii from the western and eastern Indian Ocean, none are yet known from intermediate localities, almost certainly an artefact of limited sampling at outer shelf and slope depths in the Indian region. Only in recent years have efforts to document the Indian deep-water crustacean fauna accelerated (e.g., Ahyong & Kumar, 2018;Devi et al, 2019;Ng et al, 2019;Macpherson et al, 2020;Padate et al, 2020Padate et al, , 2021Padate et al, , 2022, so it is likely that S. livermorii will eventually be found there. All known specimens of S. livermorii are from Indian Ocean localities.…”

Marine Crabs of Guinea-Bissau, with Emphasis on the Deep Fauna, Supported by an Integrative Taxonomy

“…Although studies on deep-sea crabs from various regions have seen recent increases [4,[7][8][9][10][11], there has been no published research focusing on deep-sea crabs in Guinea-Bissau waters.…”

“…Species catalogs, particularly faunal checklists for specific taxa in defined areas, offer crucial taxonomic knowledge across various scientific disciplines. They provide information about biogeography, habitat, biology, species re-descriptions, taxonomic keys, illustrations, and more [4,7,9,11,18]. Furthermore, this knowledge is basic for environmental management [4].…”