Lysmata hochi Baeza & Anker, 2008

Jose, Sheena, Purushothaman, P., Madhavan, Manu, Akash, S., Bharathi, S., Karan, A. Dhina-, Kumar, T. T. Ajith & Lal, K. K., 2020, Two new records of hippolytoid shrimps, Lysmata hochi Baeza & Anker, 2008 (Decapoda: Lysmatidae) and Lysmata amboinensis (de Man, 1888) from Lakshadweep Islands, India with taxonomic notes, Zootaxa 4755 (2), pp. 353-364 : 354-356

Lysmata hochi Baeza & Anker, 2008 ( Fig 1–2 )

Lysmata hochi Baeza & Anker, 2008: 148–155 , figs 1–3, (type locality: Bocas del Toro, Caribbean coast of Panama)

Material examined. LYSLHOC/ NBFGR, 3 females (CL 10.0–12.0 mm), Arabian Sea, off Agatti Islands, Lakshadweep, India, 10°50’18”N, 72°10’58”E, Temperature 28.10 C, Salinity 35 ppt, 0.5m deep, October 2019.

Diagnosis: Rostrum ( Fig 1a ) moderately long, straight and tip is just exceeding the first antennule peduncle, 0.3 times as long as carapace, dorso-rostral carina curving downwards but recurved on tip; armed dorsally with four teeth and an epigastric tooth, stiff setae present in middle of dorso-rostral carina for each tooth ( Fig 1a ), third tooth starting from the level of orbital margin; ventral border bearing a small tooth near to the tip. Carapace glabrous with a strong and elongated antennal spine, pterygostominal angle somewhat rounded, ventral margin of carapace not rounded. Eyes are rounded and with large ocellus; orbital margin regularly concave with ventral end with setae. Stylocerite broad, sharply bifid and reaching near to distal margin of basal antennular peduncle. Antennule peduncle not exceeding the scaphocerite, disto-dorsally few spinules are present on each peduncle, lateral flagellum contains accessory branches with an unfuis-shaped segment ( Fig 1b ). First Pereopods ( Fig 1c, d ) short, moderately stout with simple chela and extended beyond the scaphocerite. Pereopod II ( Fig 1e ) slender and slightly unequal; merus composed of 17–18 articles; carpus composed of 25–26 articles and chela is small with numerous long setae. Posterior 3 Pereopods are similar, overreaching scaphocerite by dactylus; merus bearing 1–4 spines on distally ( Fig 1 f–h); propodus with 7–9 spinules ventrally including a distal pair; dactylus biunguiculate, 0.15–0.17 times as long as propodus, accessory spine shorter than terminal spines, flexor margin armed with 2 distinct movable spines. Anterior three pleomeres arched round margin and without posterior spine; pleura IV and V moderately angled posteroventrally; pleura VI with a spine on posteroventrally. Telson ( Fig 1i & j ) 1.5 times long as abdominal somite VI and 2.9 times as long as the width of base, armed with 1 pair of dorsolateral spine appeared medially and 2 pairs of posterior spines (outer pair short and mesial pair larger) with long setae. Eggs are small and numerous, 0.4–0.51 mm in diameter.

Colouration of life: Body ( Fig 2 ) semi-translucent and with several transverse red bands and patches. Carapace with four transverse red bands on dorsally and few irregular longitudinal red bands on laterally; anterior margin of carapace with fine red patches. Eyestalk semi-translucent and fine pale red patches on dorsally; cornea darken to black. Abdominal pleura I–VI with a broad transverse band on dorso-posterior end and a longitudinal red band on laterally; abdominal pleura III with a red dot on mid-dorsally. Anterior and posterior 1/3 of telson and uropods with red, middle with translucent. Maxilliped and 1 st two pereopods are semi-translucent with several red patches. Pereopod III–V are mostly red and white bands; dactylus with white.

Distribution: Bocas del Toro, Panama (type locality), Cahuita, Costa Rica in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, Western Atlantic at depth of 0.5–1 m ( Baeza & Anker, 2008). Currently, we noticed the distribution of this species occurred in Agatti Island, Lakshadweep, the Arabian Sea at depth of 0.5 m, new record from Indian waters.

Remarks: Originally, Lysmata hochi was described based on three individuals from Bocas del Toro, Panama, Caribbean coast ( Baeza & Anker, 2008). In the present study, three specimens from India are closely agreed with the original description and illustrations of Baeza & Anker (2008) and it represents the first report from India, Arabian Sea. Although some differences were noticed, this is intraspecific and noteworthy. For instance, in the present specimens of the carpus of 2 nd pereopod composed of 25–26 articles, merus of posterior three pereopods were bearing 1–4 spines, dactylus 0.15–0.17 times as long as propodus and telson 2.9 times as long as the width of the base (fig. 1i & j).

In Indian waters, L. debelius Bruce, 1983 , L. amboinensis ( de Man, 1888) , L. ternatensis de Man, 1902 and L. vittata ( Stimpson, 1860) were observed from Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea ( Radhakrishnan et al., 2012; Prakash et al., 2017; Madhavan et al., 2019) which were differed distinctively by the colour pattern and combination of various morphological traits even though most importantly, the dorsal rostral formula. For instance, the dorsal rostrum formula is 1-2+ 4-5 in L. amboinensis ( Chace et al., 1997) , 5–6 in L. ternatensis ( Madhavan et al., 2019) , 1+ 5 in L. debelius ( Prakash et al., 2016) and 1+ 6 in L. vittata ( Wang & Sha, 2018) . Also, L. hochi is very close to L. kuekenthali ( de Man, 1902) , where it was differed by the presence of a bifid tip of stylocerite.

Three specimens of L. hochi were sequenced for COI which are submitted to NCBI (Accession No: MT079203 , MT079204 & MT079208 ). The ML analysis showed that the specimens from the Indian and Bocas del Toro ( KC962202 ) materials of L. hochi form a robust monophyletic clade with L. galapagensis and L. moorei with interspecific distances ranged from 20.6%– 25.8%. Intraspecific divergence for L. hochi was showed 0.0% (fig. 3).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lysmata hochi Baeza & Anker, 2008 (CL 10 mm). from Agatti Island, Lakshadweep, India. a, Lateral view of carapace; b, Antennule flagellum-accessory branches; c, Pereopod 1; d, fingers of 1st pereopod; e, Pereopod 2; f, Pereopod 3; g, Pereopod 4; h, pereopod 5; i, Dorsal view of telson; j, Posterior end of telson.

FIGURE 2. Picture representation of Lysmata hochi Baeza & Anker, 2008 from Agatti Island, Lakshadweep, India.