Athanopsis rubricinctuta Berggren, 1991

Anker, Arthur, 2023, Alpheid shrimps of the genera Athanas Leach, 1814, Athanopsis Coutière, 1897 and Pseudathanas Bruce, 1983 of the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula (Malacostraca: Decapoda: Caridea), Zootaxa 5383 (2), pp. 179-215 : 204

Athanopsis rubricinctuta Berggren, 1991

( Fig. 13 )

Athanopsis rubricinctuta Berggren 1991: 166 , figs. 1–6.

Material examined. 1 male (cl 5.5 mm), FLMNH UF 71437 , Oman, Masirah Island , channel side, Dafiyat, 20°35’15.1”N / 58°49’36.9”E, intertidal and shallow subtidal sandflat with patches of coral rubble, rocks and seagrass, depth at low tide less than 0.5 m, suction pump, in echiuran burrow, leg. A. Anker, 07.11.2022 [fcn BOMAN-13029, specimen infested with a pair of hemiarthrine isopods] ; 1 male (cl 5.4 mm), FLMNH UF 71437 , same collection data as for previous specimen [fcn BOMAN-13015] ; 1 male (cl 5.8 mm), FLMNH UF 71443 , same collection data as for previous specimen [fcn BOMAN-13016]; 1 ovig. female (cl 5.0 mm), FLMNH UF 71440 , same collection locality as for previous specimens, in echiuran burrow with numerous Rissoina sp. , leg. A. Anker, 19.11.2022 [fcn BOMAN-14802] .

Description. See Berggren (1991) for original description and illustrations; colour photographs of the Omani specimens are provided in Fig. 13 .

Colour in life. Background translucent whitish; carapace with bright red patch on rostro-orbital area, one narrow red band fringing each anterolateral margin, one much broader, more irregular transverse band extending from each branchial margin to cardiac region, however, not joining dorsally, and white transverse band on dorsal surface, near posterior margin; pleon with four bright red, moderately narrow, transverse bands, more precisely on first, second, fourth and fifth pleonites, sixth pleonite with white dorsal patch; remaining appendages hyaline whitish ( Fig. 13 ); see also Berggren (1991: fig. 6) and Anker (2012: fig. 7F, G).

Type locality. Inhaca Island , Mozambique .

Distribution. Currently known only from the type locality in Mozambique ( Berggren 1991) and Masirah Island, Oman (present study).

Ecology. All specimens were extracted from echiuran (probably Ochetostoma sp. ) burrows on a shallow sandflat with patches of seagrass and rubble, at a depth of 0.5 m or less at low tide. The type specimens were found in the intertidal, in association with “echiuroids of the family Thalassematidae ” ( Berggren 1991).

Remarks. Athanopsis rubricinctua was hitherto known only from the type series from Inhaca Island, Mozambique. The finding of several specimens of A. rubricinctuta in Oman considerably extends the previously known range of the species in the western Indian Ocean. The Omani material agrees very well with Berggren’s (1991) type material, including the dorsally partly exposed eyes due to the reduction of orbital teeth, with only minor variation observed, for instance, in the armature of the merus of the third, fourth and fifth pereiopods (with one or two spiniform setae in the Omani specimens vs. with one spiniform seta in the holotype). The colour pattern of the Omani specimens ( Fig. 11 ) is very similar to that of the Mozambiquan specimens ( Berggren 1991: fig. 6; Anker 2012: fig. 7F, G) and is highly diagnostic for the species.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Athanopsis dawa sp. nov., holotype, female (cl 4.4 mm) from Masirah Island, Oman (FLMNH UF 71424), right cheliped, lateral; b, same, mesial; c, same, carpus and chela, mesial; d, same, chela fingers closed, mesial; e, same, chela fingers open, mesial; f, second pereiopod, lateral; g, third pereiopod, lateral; h, same, distal portion of carpus, propodus and dactylus, mesial; i, distal portion of propodus and dactylus, lateral; j, fourth pereiopod, lateral; k, same, distal portion of carpus, propodus and dactylus, mesial; l, fifth pereiopod, lateral; m, same, distal portion of carpus, propodus and dactylus, mesial; n, same, distal portion of propodus and dactylus, lateral

FIGURE 13. Athanopsis rubricinctuta Berggren, 1991, male (cl 5.4 mm) from Masirah Island, Oman (FLMNH UF 71437) [a, b]; male (cl 5.8 mm) from the same locality (FLMNH UF 71443) [c]; a, shrimp in life, lateral (right side); b, same, dorsal; c, shrimp in life (different individual), lateral (left side). Photographs by the author.