Homolodromia kai Guinot, 1993

Islam, Atikul, Banerjee, Abhishek, Wati, Sisca Meida, Banerjee, Sumita, Shrivastava, Deepti & Srivastava, Kumar Chandan, 2022, Crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Sea off East and Southeast Asia Collected by the RV Hakuhō Maru (KH- 72 - 1 Cruise) 2. Timor Sea, Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science. Series A, Zoology 48 (1), pp. 5-24 : 9-10

Homolodromia kai Guinot, 1993

( Fig. 3B )

Material examined. RV Hakuhō Maru KH-72-1 cruise, sta. 26 (Timor Sea; 09°27.0′S, 127°58.6′E – 09°28.5′S, 127°56.1′E, 610–690 m depth), 3 m beam trawl; June 19, 1972; 1♂ (NSMT-Cr 29250: CB 12.0 mm, CL 15.7 mm including rostrum), 1 ♂ (NSMT-Cr 29251: CB 14.0 mm, CL 19.8 mm), 2 ovig. ♀♀ (NSMT-Cr 29252: CB 18.1 mm, CL 26.5 mm, diameter of egg, 1.7– 1.8 mm; CB 20.7 mm, CL 26.0 mm, diameter of egg, 1.7–2.2 mm).

RV Hakuhō Maru KH-72-1 cruise, sta. 33 (Off Sahul Shelf, 12°42.2′S, 123°07.6′E – 12°42.0′S, 123°08.5′E, 535–547 m depth), 3 m beam trawl; June 26, 1972; 2 young ♀♀ (NSMT-Cr 29253: CB 9.0 mm, CL 13.4 mm; CB 12.2 mm, CL 16.8 mm).

Remarks. The genus Homolodromia was extensively studied by Guinot (1995) based on the four species then known, and later two new species, H. rajeevani Padate, Cubelio and Jayachandran, 2020 and H. hakuhoae Takeda, Ohtsuchi and Komatsu, 2021 , were described from India and the Philippines, respectively. The early known four species are quite distinctive in their biogeographical distributions, with H. bouvieri Doflein, 1904 from the western Indian Ocean, H. kai Guinot, 1993 from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, H. robertsi Garth, 1973 from the southeastern Pacific Ocean, and H. paradoxa A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 from the western Atlantic Ocean. They are all deep-sea inhabitants as mentioned by Takeda et al. (2021).

The specimen at hand is characteristic in having a smooth carapace and a coat of long soft setae entirely covering the carapace, chelipeds and ambulatory legs. This setation is somewhat similar to that of H. rajeevani , and clearly different from that of the other species. In H. rajeevani, each pseudorostral tooth is sharp and directed forward, and the branchial region is prominently inflated.

Distribution. The type locality is the Kai Islands , 688–694 m depth, with additional records by Guinot (1995) from New Caledonia (680–830 m depth), Vanuatu (775–850 m depth) and the Wallis and Futuna Islands (705–711 m depth). This species is otherwise known from the South China Sea, 650 m ( Ho and Ng, 1999), New Zealand and eastern Australia, 350–935 m (Ahyong, 2008), and the north of Tokuno-shima Island in the East China Sea, 728–748 m ( Takeda et al., 2005). The present records are from the Timor Sea and off the Sahul Shelf (535–690 m depth).

Figures

Fig. 3. A: Homolochunia valdiviae Doflein, female (NSMT-Cr 29254: CB 12.3mm×CL 18.5mm including rostrum) from sta. 27 (Timor Sea, 465–490m depth). B: Homolodromia kai Guinot, female (NSMT-Cr 29253: CB 12.2mm×CL 16.8mm including rostrum) from sta. 33 (Off Sahul Shelf, 535–547m depth).