Munida asprosoma Ahyong and Poore, 2004

McCallum, Anna W., Ahyong, Shane T. & Andreakis, Nikos, 2021, New species of squat lobsters of the genus Munida from Australia, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 80, pp. 113-152 : 138

Munida asprosoma Ahyong and Poore, 2004

Figure 16C–D

Munida asprosoma Ahyong and Poore, 2004: 20 , fig. 3 (type locality: east of Broken Bay, New South Wales, Australia). — Baba et al., 2008: 87. — Baba et al., 2009: 146, figs 123–126. — Poore et al., 2011: pl. 16D. — McEnnulty et al., 2011: app. 1.

Material examined. Western Australia: NMV J56016 , 2 ovigerous females (cl 16.3 mm, pcl 10.2 mm; cl 17.4 mm, pcl 10.7 mm), Mermaid L 24 transect, 16° 38.064' S, 119° 09.216' E to 16° 38.766' S, 119° 08.034' E, 983–993 m, SS05/2007/68, 17 June 2007 ;

NMV J56096 , 1 female (cl 13.9 mm, pcl 8.3 mm), 1 juvenile (cl 10.3 mm, pcl 6.0 mm), Mermaid L24 transect, 16° 44.286' S, 119° 15.042' E to 16° 43.794' S, 119° 15.48' E, 693–698 m, SS05/2007/70, 17 June 2007 ; NMV J56393 , 2 females (pcl 6.7–8.1 mm; #B, #A), 1 male (pcl 5.0 mm; #C), Leveque L27 transect, 14° 33.06' S, 121° 15.366' E to 14° 33.588' S, 121° 16.56' E, 1021–1023 m, SS05/2007/155, 3 June 2007 ; NMV J57258 , 1 ovigerous female (cl 20.6 mm, pcl 12.7 mm), SS05/2007/155 ; NMV J55077 , 1 male (cl 20.4 mm, pcl 12.2 mm), Perth Canyon, 31° 57.9' S, 115° 06.3' E to 31° 56.982' S, 115° 07.08' E, 928–1170 m, SS10/2005/73, 30 November 2005 ; NMV J55078 , 4 ovigerous females (cl 18.7 mm, pcl 10.7 mm to cl 22.1 mm, pcl 13.6 mm), 19 females (cl 14.4 mm, pcl 8.6 mm to cl 23.5 mm, pcl 14.5 mm), 11 males (cl 12.4 mm, pcl 7.4 mm to cl 26.5 mm, pcl 15.9 mm), SS10/2005/73 ; NMV J55076 , 3 males (cl 13.2 mm, pcl 8.0 mm to cl 21.5 mm, pcl 12.8 mm), Abrolhos, 29° 00.594' S, 113° 42.78'E to 29° 01.512'S, 113° 43.32'E, 700–704 m, SS10/2005/85, 2 December 2005 ; NMV J55079 , 1 female (cl 16.9 mm, pcl 10.4 mm), 5 males (cl 15.9 mm, pcl 9.6 mm to cl 26.1 mm, pcl 16.1 mm), SS10/2005/85 .

Colour. Carapace , abdomen, chela and P2–4 pale pink. Reddish on distal portion of fingers, antenna and posterior margin of carapace. One specimen photographed is different in colour from the other two photographed specimens. This specimen was collected from the Abrolhos station at ~ 700 m (male, cl 13.2 mm, pcl 8.0 mm, NMV J55076 ). The carapace is white with orange on the striae and abdominal somites 2–3, P2–4 are white, the chelae are orange with white fingers .

Genetic data. COI; see Table 1.

Remarks. The present specimens of M. asprosoma from Western Australia accord well in most respects with those from eastern Australia ( Ahyong and Poore, 2004). Three juveniles ( NMV J56393; pcl 5.0– 8.1 mm), however, differ from adults in having lesser developed abdominal spination: the median pair of spines on the anterior ridge of abdominal somite 2 is well developed but spines laterad are either incipent or minute, and the anterior ridge of somite 3 is unarmed. Thus, the diagnostic spination of the abdominal somites may not be fully developed in juveniles and care should be taken when identifying small specimens.

The COI sequences of M. asprosoma were only 1.3% divergent from Munida hoda Macpherson, Rodríguez-Flores and Machordom, 2017 , from Mozambique. Intraspecific divergence between the three specimens sequenced here was 0.3–0.6%. These species share a number of morphological characters including: the presence of 5 spines on the branchial lateral margins of the carapace, strongly oblique frontal carapace margins, absence of secondary striae between the widely spaced primary striae, spines along the anterior ridge of the abdominal somite 2, large eyes, and the distomesial spine of the antennular article 1 shorter than the distolateral spine. They can easily be distinguished by the presence of spines on abdominal somite 3 in adults of M. asprosoma , and the flexor spination of the P2 dactyli, with 7–9 spines in M. asprosoma and only 4 spines in M. hoda . One of the specimens photographed had a different colour pattern from the others ( NMV J55076, male pcl 8.0 mm; see above) but we could find no other morphological characters to distinguish this specimen from the others. Similarly, Baba et al. (2009) showed a number of distinct colour morphs of M. asprosoma from Taiwan, not dissimilar to the variation reported here, and in some cases different from that of the holotype (Poore et al. 2011: pl. 16D).

Distribution. Eastern Australia (New South Wales and Queensland), Vanuatu, Taiwan, 495–1802 m. Western Australia, 700–1170 m.

Figures

Figure 16. A, Munida agave Macpherson and Baba, 1993, female, cl 11.6 mm, pcl 10.4 mm (NMV J56008); B, Munida armilla Macpherson, 1994, male, cl 16.1 mm, pcl 10.2 mm (NMV J55081); C–D, Munida asprosoma Ahyong and Poore, 2004, male, cl 13.2 mm, pcl 8.0 mm (J55076), ovigerous female, cl 17.4 mm, pcl 10.7 mm (NMV J56016). Photos: K. Gowlett-Holmes.