Synalpheus tumidomanus (Paulson 1875)

Synalpheus tumidomanus (Paulson, 1875)

Alph[eus] tumido-manus Paulson, 1875:101, pl. 13: fig. 2 [type locality: Red Sea].

Alph. [tumido-manus] var. Alph[eus] gracili-manus Paulson, 1875:102, pl. 13: fig. 3 [type locality: Red Sea].

S[ynalpheus] Hululensis Coutière, 1908:202 [type locality: Maldives].

S[ynalpheus] Mac-Cullochi Coutière, 1908:203 [type locality: southwest coast of Australia].

S[ynalpheus] tumidomanus var. exilimanus Paulson? Coutière, 1909:10 [nomen nudum].

Synalpheus Theophane De Man, 1910:292 [type locality: the type series came from 3 localities in Macassar Strait, Celebes, and southeast of Timor, Indonesia; reef to 27–34 meters].

Synalpheus anisocheir Stebbing, 1915:86, pl. 87 [type locality: Gordon's Bay, False Bay, South Africa].

Synalpheus japonicus Yokoya, 1936:133, fig. 3 [type locality: vicinity of Misaki, Shikoku, Japan].

Synalpheus tumidomanus.—D.M. and A.H. Banner, 1975:377, fig. 28; 1981:83.—A.H. and D.M. Banner. 1983:107.

DIAGNOSIS.—Rostrum reaching nearly to or beyond distal margin of 1st antennular segment, not upturned, narrower at base than orbital teeth; 6th abdominal somite not projecting posteriorly either side of base of telson, posterior margin unarmed mesially; telson with dorsolateral spines distinct, anterior pair situated near midlength, posterior angles subrectangular to acutely projecting; stylocerite overreaching 1st antennular segment; basal antennal segment (basicerite) with ventrolateral tooth usually not overreaching stylocerite, dorsally unarmed to acutely projecting; antennal scale with well-developed blade; major chela with movable finger slightly, if at all, overreaching fixed finger, palm terminating distally in acute tooth or no projection at all at level of articulation with movable finger; minor chela without patterned row of setae on extensor margin of movable finger, each finger terminating in essentially single tooth; 2nd pereopod with 5 carpal articles; 3rd pereopod with dactyl biunguiculate, extensor tooth at least twice as long as flexor tooth, segment neither excavate nor swollen on flexor margin proximal to flexor tooth, merus unarmed on flexor margin; uropod with transverse articulation on lateral branch; maximum carapace length to base of rostrum about 9 mm.

RANGE.—Mediterranean coast of Israel and Red Sea to South Africa, eastward to Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, and across the Pacific to the Phoenix Islands; intertidal to 148 meters, in dead coral and sponges.

*Vexillipar, new genus

TYPE SPECIES.—Vexillipar repandum, new species.

DIAGNOSIS.—Rostrum acute in lateral aspect; carapace without high carina throughout length of dorsal midline; abdomen without flap articulated at posterolateral angle of 6th somite; telson not terminating posteriorly in triangular tooth; eyes concealed from dorsal view; mandible with molar and incisor process but without palp; 3rd maxilliped not unusually broadened to form partial operculum over other mouthparts; 1st pereopods similar and equal, carried extended with movable finger ventrolateral; 2nd pereopod with fingers much shorter than palm, carpus with 5 articles; pereopods with strap-like epipods on 3 anterior pairs; appendix masculina not overreaching exopod of 2nd pleopod.

RANGE.—Philippines; 296 to 875 meters.

MATERIAL.—PHILIPPINES. Tayabas Bay, southern Luzon: sta 5374; 13°46′45″N, 121°35′08″E [348 m]; gray mud; 2 Mar 1909 (1157–1230); 12′ Tanner beam trawl, mud bag: 1 male [10.8]. Eastern Mindanao Sea: sta 5493; 9°04′N, 125°20′E; 875 m; green mud; 11.2°C; 2 Aug 1909 (0703–0748); 12′ Agassiz beam trawl: 1 male [8.1]. Between Negros and Siquijor: sta 5536: 9°15′45″N, 123°22′00″E; 510 m; green mud; 11.9°C; 19 Aug 1909 (1336–1356); 12′ Tanner beam trawl: 2 males [10.8, 10.8] 4 females [10.7–12.0], 2 ovig [10.7, 11.2]. Western Mindanao Sea: sta 5516; 8°46′N, 123°32′30”; 320 m; globigerina; 12.4°C; 9 Aug 1909 (1021–1041); 12′ Tanner beam trawl: 1 ovig female [11.5]; sta 5517; 8°45′30″N, 123°33′45″E; 309 m; globigerina; 12.4°C; 9 Aug 1909 (1121–1139); 12′ Tanner beam trawl: 1 male [8.0]; sta 5516 or 5517; “From Venus Basket”: 4 males [7.7–10.1] 5 ovig females [8.8–12.0]; sta 5519; 8°47′N, 123°31′15″E; 333 m; globigerina, sand; 12.4°C; 9 Aug 1909 (1356–1439); 12′ Tanner beam trawl: 5 males [9.5–11.0] 8 females [6.9–14.2], 6 ovig [9.2–14.2]; sta 5543; 8°47′15″N, 123°35′00″E; 296 m; sand 12.5°C; 20 Aug 1909 (0904–0921); 12′ Tanner beam trawl: 10 males [7.2–12.0], 1 [12.0] is holotype (USNM 205670), 24 females [7.8–15.2], 18 ovig [8.8–15.2].

TYPE LOCALITY.—Off Murcielagos Bay, Mindanao, Philippines; 8°47′15″N, 123°35′00″E; 296 meters.

RANGE.—The 66 specimens of this unusual shrimp from seven Philippine stations in depths of 296 to 875 meters—all but one from the Mindanao Sea—make it the commonest alpheid in the Albatross Philippine collections, as well as, perhaps, the deepest known member of the family. There is a possibility that the label accompanying the nine specimens combined in one lot from stations 5516 and 5517 (“From Venus Basket”), if it is reliable, may offer a clue to the apparent abundance of the species. If it is, indeed, associated with the hyalospongean Euplectella, that discovery might have led to an intensified search for the shrimps whenever the sponge was found in abundance, not only at those two stations, but at station 5519, where 13 specimens were present and at station 5543, where 34 specimens were saved. It may be pertinent that specimens of the stenopodidean Spongicola, a genus known to inhabit Euplectella, was recorded from Albatross station 5519 by Saint Laurent and Cleva (1981:153), but direct correlation with the occurence of Euplectella at the stations where Vexillipar was taken is impossible because the Albatross Philippine specimens of Euplectella have not yet been studied.

ETYMOLOGY.—From the Latin repandus, -a, -um, (“bent backward” or “turned up”) in reference to the typically swaybacked carapace of the species.