Kumepagurus, Komai & Osawa, 2012

Komai, Tomoyuki & Osawa, Masayuki, 2012, A new genus and new species of pagurid hermit crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguroidea) from a submarine cave in Kume Island, Ryukyu Islands *, Zootaxa 3367 (1), pp. 145-154 : 145-146

Kumepagurus n. gen.

[new Japanese name: Kumejima-doukutsu-yadokari-zoku]

Type species. Kumepagurus cavernicolus n. sp., by present designation.

Diagnosis. Gills biserial, 13 pairs (2 arthrobranchs above bases of third maxilliped to fourth pereopods and 1 pleurobranch on each body wall of fifth to seventh thoracic somites). Rostrum roundly triangular. Ocular acicles simple. Third maxilliped with crista dentata consisting of moderately spaced, unequal teeth; no accessory tooth. Right cheliped massive, chela operculate; dactylus articulating obliquely with palm. Fourth pereopod simple, with propodal rasp consisting of single row of corneous scales; no preungual process. Male with medium, coiled, laterally oriented sexual tube on coxa of right fifth pereopod; left coxa with short sexual tube, directed posteriorly, tapering distally to slender, acute tip. Male with left third to fifth pleopods. Female characters unknown. Pleon dextrally twisted. Sixth pleonal tergite not strongly calcified. Telson with terminal margins strongly oblique.

Remarks. Only a single male specimen was available for study, and thus the female diagnostic characters remain unknown. This new genus resembles Pylopaguropsis Alcock, 1905 , in the possession of 13 pairs of biserial gills and the operculate right chela. In addition, the tip of the fixed finger of the left chela bears two terminal corneous spines in this new species, a character shared only with Pylopaguropsis species among pagurid genera ( Asakura 2000). However, Kumepagurus n. gen. is readily distinguished from Pylopaguropsis by the possession of prominent sexual tubes in males. Furthermore, the absence of an accessory tooth on the third maxilliped and the simple fourth pereopod, also immediately differentiate the new genus from Pylopaguropsis . There are no other pagurid genera characterized by the combination of the 13 pairs of biserial gills and the possession of welldeveloped sexual tubes.

Etymology. Named after the type locality, Kume Island. Gender: masculine.