Thor paschalis ( Heller, 1862 )

Al-Kandari, Manal, Anker, Arthur, Hussain, Sumaiah, Al-Yassen, Sharifa, Sattari, Zainab & Grave, Sammy De, 2020, New records of decapod crustaceans from Kuwait (Malacostraca: Decapoda), Zootaxa 4803 (2), pp. 251-280 : 262-263

Thor paschalis ( Heller, 1862)

( Fig. 7 )

Hippolyte paschalis Heller, 1862: 276 , pl. 3, fig. 24.

Thor paschalis . — Kemp, 1914: 94; Ledoyer 1970: 125, pl. 8.

Thor cf. paschalis . — Ashrafi et al. 2020: 525 .

Material examined. Kuwait: 1 ov. female, OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.026, Failaka Island , 29°23.409’N 48° 23.927’E, intertidal, under rocks, leg. S. De Grave & Z. Sattari, 03.x.2019 [fcn KUW-053]; 1 ov. female, OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.027, same collection data [fcn KUW-059] .

General distribution. Indo-West Pacific, ranging from the Red Sea, Arabian Gulf ( Kuwait) and Madagascar eastwards to Australia ( Anker & De Grave 2016; present study); exact distribution range still unclear.

Ecology. Intertidal to shallow subtidal; in seagrass beds, algae, rubble etc.

Remarks. Both Kuwaiti specimens examined display a minute pterygostomial tooth (also illustrated by Ledoy- er 1969), but can be confidently assigned to T. paschalis on the basis of a suite of morphological characters, amongst which is the absence of a medio-lateral tooth on the first article of the antennular peduncle. The species is recorded

from Kuwait for the first time and from the Arabian Gulf for the second time only, after a recent record from Iran ( Ashrafi et al. 2020, as T. cf. paschalis ).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Thor paschalis (Heller, 1862): ovigerous female from Failaka Island, Kuwait (OUMNH.ZC. 2020.01.026). Photograph by A. Anker.