Upogebia carinicauda ( Stimpson, 1860 )

Dworschak, Peter C. & Anker, Arthur, 2022, Axiidea (Crustacea: Callianassidae, Callichiridae and Ctenochelidae) and Gebiidea (Upogebiidae) collected during the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey of Singapore, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 70, pp. 108-133 : 114-116

Upogebia carinicauda ( Stimpson, 1860)

( Figs. 2a, b , 7)

Gebia carinicauda Stimpson, 1860: 23 . — Miers, 1884: 280; — de Man, 1888: 256 (part).

Gebia barbata Strahl, 1862: 1062 (part). — Ortmann, 1891: 54, fig. 8; 1894: 22.

Gebiopsis intermedia de Man, 1888: 256 (part), pl. 16, figs. 6–8.

Upogebia (Upogebia) carinicauda var. gracilipes de Man, 1926: 343 ; — 1928: 44 (key), 65.

Upogebia (Upogebia) carinicauda . — de Man, 1928: 22 (list), 44 (key), 60, pl. 3, fig. 6–6c, pl. 4, fig. 6d–n; — Sakai, 1982: 35, figs. 6d, 8a, pls. A5, C5–6.

Upogebia (Calliadne) darwini . — Poore & Griffin, 1979: 292 (part), fig. 46 [not U. darwinii ( Miers, 1884) ].

Upogebia darwini . — Ngoc-Ho, 1977 (part): 444, fig. 4a–e [not U. darwinii ( Miers, 1884) ].

Upogebia carinicauda . — Sakai & Takeda, 1995: 204, figs. 1–3; — Sakai, 2006: 98; — Ngoc-Ho, 1979: 153, fig. 3c, d; —

Ngoc-Ho, 2008: 146, fig. 8; — Purohit & Vachhrajani, 2017: 409, fig. 1G; — Al-Kandari et al., 2020: 265, fig. 10.

Upogebia (Upogebia) kempi Sankolli, 1972: 671 , figs. 9, 10; — Sakai & Türkay, 2014: 148 (list), 150 (key).

Upogebia foresti Ngoc-Ho, 1989: 870, fig. 3; — Sakai, 2006: 122; — Sakai & Türkay, 2014: 132 (list), 148 (list), 150 (key), 155.

CMBS material. 1 male (19/5.7) ( ZRC 2018.0548 ) , sta. DR031, Straits of Singapore outside Marina Bay, 1°16.415′N 103°52.838′E, mud, gravel, rectangular dredge, 19.4–19.6 m, leg. B Richer de Forges et al., 23 May 2013 (SS-1578); 1 ov. female (21/6.1) ( ZRC 2018.0563 ), 1 male (14/4.0) ( ZRC 2018.0568 ) , sta. SB249, off Small Sister I., scuba diving, hand collection, <10 m, coll. J Teo, 26 December 2013 (SUB-0046, 0047); 1 male (21/6.3) ( NHMW 26035 ) , sta. SW001, Pulau Ubin , OBS Camp 1, 1°25′15.77″N 103°55′57.00″E, near brackish stream in secondary forest, low tide, coll. PKL Ng, JC Mendoza, HH Tan et al., 16 October 2012 (JS-0211); 1 male (23/6.6) ( NHMW 26034 ) , sta. SW032, Pulau Ubin , N side of Chek Jawa, 1°24′44.5″N 103°59′43.2″E, sand and mud flat, beach seine, 0–1 m, coll . R Tan , B Ludt et al., 19 October 2012 (JS-1386); 1 ov. female (22/6.0) ( ZRC 2018.0539 ), sta. SB146 , W of Pulau Hantu , coral rubble brushing, 5–7 m, coll. HH Tan, S De Grave et al., 2 June 2013; 1 ov. female (17/4.7) ( ZRC 2018.0537 ), 1 female (22/5.9) , 1 male (15/4.4) ZRC 2018.0553 , sta. TB172, Straits of Singapore near Kusu Island, 1°12.180′N 103°52.125′E, consolidated marine clay, 94.5–100 m, coll. B Richer de Forges et al., 5 June 2013 (SS-4521, SS-4522) .

Comparative material. 3 males (CL 6.6–12.0) 2 females (CL 11.4–12.0) ( NHMW 19590 ) , Australia, Queensland, Mossman, Cooya Beach , muddy reef at low tide, coll. P. Dworschak & A. Anker, 19–20 July 2001 ; 1 female (21/6.1) ( NHMW 26544 ) , 1 female (20/6.1) ( NHMW 26545 ) , 1 female (18/5.3) ( NHMW 26546 ) , 1 male (17/5.3) ( NHMW 26547 ) , Indonesia, Lombok , coll. A. Anker, DL Rahayu et al., May 2014 .

Diagnosis. Lateral ridges of gastric region projecting forward. Linea thalassinica (with interruption) reaching to posterior end of carapace. Rostrum longer than eyestalks, with 4 frontal teeth. Ocular spine present. Antennal peduncle longer than antennular peduncle. First pereopod usually subchelate; ischium with strong lower spine; merus with lower spines decreasing in size distally, with proximal upper spine; carpus with strong upper, moderate median and small lower spine mesially; propodus with spines on lower mesial face and proximal spine on upper border; dactylus with small tubercles proximally on mesial face, tip corneous. Second pereopod merus with proximal upper spine; propodus 1.5–1.9 times as long as high. Third pereopod merus with lower spines proximally. Pleomere 6 without lateral spines; posterior border smooth. Uropodal endopod acutely triangular. Telson 0.8–0.9 times as long as maximal width, with smooth inverted U-shaped carina. First maxilliped with epipod. Third maxilliped without epipod; exopod flagellate. Arthrobranchs of type C.

Distribution. Distributed in the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to northern Australia ( Sakai, 2006).

Habitat. In sand, mud, coral rubble and consolidated clay from the intertidal to 100 m depth (this study).

Remarks. The type material of U. carinicauda from Hong Kong is no longer extant, most probably destroyed during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 ( Evans, 1967). Stimpson’s (1860) description is rather short and points to the following characters: 1) the ventral margin of the palm of the first pereopod bears a spine at the base of the fixed finger; 2) the cutting edge of the fixed finger is denticulate; and 3) the dorsal surface of the telson has a sharply elevated transverse carina near the proximal margin. Sakai (1982) considered this sufficient to differentiate it from other species known from southern China at that time. Subsequently, the species has been reported by Miers (1884) from Thursday Island, northern Australia. Part of the type material of U. barbata ( Strahl, 1862) belongs to U. carinicauda as do the subsequent records of U. barbata by Ortmann (1891, 1894) (see Sakai, 1982).

De Man (1928) observed some variation in 18 specimens collected during the Siboga Expedition: 1) the ocular spine is sometimes very small; 2) the spine on the first pereopod palm near the base of dactylus is sometimes absent; and 3) the dactylus is only slightly longer than the fixed finger, especially in small specimens.

Ngoc-Ho (1979) compared in detail the Indian species U. kempi Sankolli, 1972 with U. carinicauda and synonymised the former with the latter. This synonymisation was followed by Sakai (1982) and Sakai & Takeda (1995). Later, Sakai (2006) considered U. kempi as a valid species, with U. foresti Ngoc-Ho, 1989 as its junior synonym, because both show a spine on the upper border of the second pereopod merus, which according to the author was absent in U. carinicauda . Later, U. foresti was again considered a valid species by Sakai & Türkay (2014). De Man (1928: 65), Ngoc-Ho (1977: fig. 4e, as U. darwini ), Poore & Griffin (1979: fig. 46f, as U. darwinii ) and Ngoc-Ho (2008: fig. 8F), however, indicated such a spine on the second pereopod merus for U. carinicauda (see comments in Ngoc-Ho, 2008: 159). In addition, U. rupicola Komai, 2005 has been synonymised with U. carinicauda by Sakai (2006), but considered as valid by Ngoc-Ho (2008) and Sakai & Türkay (2014). Another species, different from, but similar to U. carinicauda , is U. saintlaurentae Ngoc-Ho, 2008; however, two of the three characters given to discriminate the two species from each other are quite variable in the former.

The material of the CMBS attributed here to U. carinicauda show most of the above-mentioned variations. Consistent characters are: 1) the rostrum with four dorsal spines; 2) the prominent smooth carina on the telson; 3) the presence of a spine on the upper border of first and second pereopod merus; 4) the linea thalassinica reaching to the end of the carapace; 5) the fixed finger with a serrated cutting edge proximally; and 6) the first pereopod dactylus with a corneous tip.

On the other hand, the following characters are variable: 1) the development of the ocular spine (present in 6 of the 9 specimens); 2) the presence of either one or two spines on the mesial face of the cheliped propodus (4 of 9 specimens); 3) the chelipeds clearly subchelate with the dactylus twice as long as the fixed finger (5 specimens), barely subchelate with the dactylus only slightly longer than the fixed finger (2 specimens), or chelate with the fingers almost of the same length (2 specimens); 4) the upper border of the cheliped propodus serrated (3 specimens) or smooth; and 5) the lower border of the third pereopod with (5 specimens) or without (4 specimens) spines.

The basal antennular article with a ventral spine was figured by de Man (1928: pl. 3 fig. 6c), but either not mentioned in subsequent descriptions (e.g., Sakai, 1982; Ngoc-Ho, 2008) or described as unarmed ( Sakai & Takeda, 1995: 206). Ngoc-Ho (2008) mentioned a ventral spine on the antennal peduncle. Most specimens from Singapore lack spines on the antennular and antennal peduncle, except for two specimens with the more chelate first pereopod, which possess a ventral spine on the antennular peduncle. The specimens from Australia (NHMW 19590) and Lombok (NHMW 26544–26547) have a spine on the antennal peduncle, but not at the antennular peduncle.

Figures

Fig. 2. Specimens, habitus (dorsal and ventral views), showing colouration in life: a, Upogebia carinicauda (Stimpson, 1860), male (21/6.1) (NHMW 26035); b, same, male (23/6.6) (NHMW 26034); c, d, U. darwinii (Miers, 1884), ovigerous female (44/12.6) (NHMW 26038); e, U. hexaceras (Ortmann, 1894), male (23/7.0) (ZRC 2018.0557); f, same, ovigerous female (22/6.1) (NHMW 26042); g, U. ancylodactyla de Man, 1905, female (40/11.3) (ZRC 2018.0551); h, same, male (29/8.4) (ZRC 2018.0549). Not to scale. [Photographs by AA].