Salmoneus brucei Komai, 2009

Anker, Arthur, 2019, On three symbiotic species of the alpheid shrimp genus Salmoneus Holthuis, 1955 from the Indo-West Pacific, including one new to science (Malacostraca: Decapoda: Caridea), Zootaxa 4651 (1), pp. 51-63 : 58-59

Salmoneus brucei Komai, 2009

Fig. 5

Salmoneus brucei Komai 2009: 870 , figs. 1–5.

Material examined. 1 post-ovigerous specimen (cl 6.2 mm), MZB Cru 4969, Indonesia, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Sumba, southeastern coast, near Tanjong Unddu , shallow near-shore sand flat, depth: 0.5–1 m, suction pump, in burrows of Lepidophthalmus cf. rosae ( Nobili, 1904), coll. A. Anker, 23.ix.2014 [fcn SU5-02 ]; 1 non-ovigerous specimen (cl 6.4 mm), OUMNH. ZC . 2015-08-026, same collection data [fcn SU5-05 ] .

Description. See Komai (2009).

Colouration. Semitransparent-whitish, with slight straw-yellow tinge; chelipeds hyaline white; brown stomach and yolk-yellow ovaries visible due to partial translucence of carapace integument ( Fig. 5 ).

Type locality. Iriomote-jima , Ryukyu Islands, Japan .

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific: currently only known from Iriomote-jima, Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan ( Komai 2009), and Sumba, central Indonesia (present study).

Ecology. Intertidal and shallow subtidal sand flats (known depth range: 0–1 m); associated with burrows of cal- lianassid ghost shrimps, Lepidophthalmus tridentatus (von Martens, 1868) and L. cf. rosae ( Nobili, 1904) ( Komai 2009; present study).

Remarks. The material from Sumba represents the first record of Salmoneus brucei from Indonesia and also the first record of the species outside its type locality in southern Japan ( Komai 2009). Both specimens match very well S. brucei as described by Komai (2009). The species is relatively easy to recognise due to the unique combi- nation of morphological features, such as the very robust and subequal, but asymmetrical chelipeds, with a very characteristic armature on the chela fingers (very different between the major and minor chelae), and the absence of orbital teeth (cf. Komai 2009: figs. 2B, 3, 4). The colour of the type specimens was described as “entirely yellowish translucent”, which corresponds well to the colour of the Sumba specimens ( Fig. 5 ). In addition, Lepidophthalmus cf. rosae ( Nobili, 1904) [material under study] is herewith recorded as a new host of S. brucei .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Salmoneus brucei Komai, 2009: non-ovigerous specimen (cl 6.4 mm, right cheliped regenerated) from Sumba, Indonesia, OUMNH.ZC. 2015-08-026 [a]; post-ovigerous specimen (cl 6.2 mm) from the same locality, MZB Cru 4969 [b]; a—living individual, dorsal view; b—same, lateral view (both photographs by the author).