Allaxiopsis spinimana (De Man, 1905 )

Poore, Gary C. B., 2018, Burrowing lobsters mostly from shallow coastal environments in Papua New Guinea (Crustacea: Axiidea: Axiidae, Micheleidae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 77, pp. 1-14 : 6-8

Allaxiopsis spinimana (De Man, 1905)

Fig. 5

Axiopsis Picteti var. spinimana De Man, 1905: 597 .

Axiopsis (Axiopsis) Picteti var. spinimana .— De Man, 1925: 6, 70, 96, pl. 7 fig. 17.

Allaxius spinimanus .— Sakai and de Saint Laurent, 1989: 75.

Allaxiopsis spinimana .— Sakai, 2011: 40.

Allaxiopsis bougainvillensis Sakai, 2011: 37–39 , fig. 3. Syn. nov.

Material examined. Papua New Guinea. Bougainville, Teop I., 05° 34.3' S, 155° 4.7' E, (as ‘ Tiop Bougainville, German New Guinea’, H. Schoede, ZMB 14440 (holotype female, 4.9 mm; paratype female, 4.5 mm of Allaxiopsis bougainvillensis Sakai, 2011 ) (both photographed by C.O. Coleman).

Madang Province, Channel between Pik I. and Kranket I., 05° 09.6' S, 145° 49.7' E, 3–8 m, coll. R. Hanley, NMV J67992 (2 ovigerous females, 7.5, 7.8 mm; 3 males, 3.2–5.0 mm; part of larger collection, NTMAG Cr.0100212) .

Type locality. Indonesia, off south point of Kabaena I., 22 m ( Siboga stn 209) .

Diagnosis. Major cheliped, propodus with blunt tubercles on proximal lateral face, more prominent nearer upper margin becoming spine-like and more hooked towards distal upper margin. Minor cheliped, propodus with few tubercles on proximal lateral face, upper margin with 3 spines.

Supplementary description. Rostrum acute, depressed, 0.3 length of rostral base–cervical groove, with pair of erect lateral spines near apex, larger pair at midpoint, and ventral tubercle. Gastric carina difficult to differentiate; median gastric carina obsolete except near base of rostrum, with sequence of 1, 1, 2 teeth; submedian gastric carina obsolete, with 1 tooth anteriorly and 2 or 3 teeth posteriorly; supraocular spine oblique, not marginal; lateral gastric carina, with 2 blunt teeth. Eyestalk reaching beyond end of rostrum. Antenna article 2 with small distal spine; scaphocerite 4 times as long as greatest height (lateral view), reaching sixth length of article 4. Major cheliped ischium, merus and carpus each smooth on lower margin; propodus swollen, lateral face tuberculate over proximal half, tubercles larger closer to upper margin, upper margin about equal to greatest height, with 2 rows each of 6 spines, the larger ones sharper and more hooked distally; fixed finger 0.45 times length of upper margin of propodus, with 2 blunt distal teeth along cutting edge, with short tuberculate mesial ridge; dactylus 2.1 times as long as wide, with lateral carina near upper margin, cutting edge with 2 low rounded teeth in proximal half. Minor cheliped as long as major cheliped, propodus about 0.5 times as high as on major cheliped; ischium and merus smooth on lower margin; propodus swollen, propodus upper margin 1.5 times greatest height, lateral face with 3 tubercles on proximal lateral face, upper margin with 3 teeth, second and third sharp; fixed finger almost as long as upper margin of propodus, with 2 distal teeth on cutting edge; dactylus 4 times as long as wide, cutting edge smooth. Telson 1.4 times as wide as long at level of most anterior lateral teeth; distal margin 0.8 times telson greatest width; lateral margin with 3 teeth; distal margin excavate, with 1 lateral articulating robust seta, lateral fixed spine, with median spine; face with 2 pairs of spines. Male pleopod 2 appendix masculina 1,3 times as long as appendix interna, stiff setae on posterior face. Uropodal endopod 1.8 times as long as wide; anterior margin strong lobed proximally (as rounded shoulder), otherwise concave with spine at midpoint, with subdistal and distal spine; posterior distal margin curved, with 10 spines, the most distal 2 submarginal, anterodistal angle marked by 2 spines; facial rib with 3 spines. Uropodal exopod semicircular, 1.8 times as long as wide; anterior margin of article 1 convex, with 6 marginal teeth; posterior margin straight, with 5 distal spines set obliquely; distal margin transverse, 2 marginal spines, strong articulating spine near anterior corner, facial rib with 3 spines; article 2 with 5 teeth along distal margin.

Colour. Traces of purple on pereopod 1 propodus and dactylus on preserved material. De Man (1925) described the colour as being similar to A. picteti but more violet in parts. Juveniles and adults of A. picteti appear to differ so this species may also differ.

Distribution. Indonesia, S Sulawesi; Papua New Guinea, Central Province, Bougainville; shallow heights.

Remarks. De Man (1905) based Axiopsis picteti var. spinimana on two syntypes from the ‘Anchorage off the south point of Kabaena-island’, Indonesia ( Siboga stn 209), the same locality at which he also recorded A. picteti . De Man (1925) described his two syntypes in moderate detail but illustrated only the distinctive cheliped.

Allaxiopsis bougainvillensis Sakai, 2011 , is based on two female specimens (ZMB 14440) from Papua New Guinea, which Sakai referred to as the holotype with both chelipeds (‘lectotype’ in fig. 3 caption) and a paratype without chelipeds. They are correctly identified on the ZMB label as ‘ Axiopsis (Axiopsis) picteti var. spinimana De Man, 1905 ’, possibly by H. Schoede. In describing his new taxon, Sakai (2011) correctly stated that these specimens are not types but used this observation to justify a new species without stating how it differed from A. (A.) picteti spinimana . He did not illustrate or describe the distinctive spinose chelipeds of the holotype (photographs of which were provided to me by C.O. Coleman), which are clearly identical to those in De Man’s (1925) figure of A. spinimana and to those figured here from other material. The supposed differences in gastric sculpture between A. bougainvillensis and A. picteti are small and not relevant.

The type locality of A. bougainvillensis was given by Sakai (2011) as ‘ Triop Bougainville, German New Guinea’, a mistranscription of Tiop written on the label, which is now spelled Teop .

The species shares the trifid rostrum, regular pattern of blunt gastric spines, short scaphocerite, broad telson, uropodal endopod with shouldered anterior margin, and spinose uropodal rami with A. picteti . The most significant difference is the presence of chelipeds with spinose palms, the distal spines on the upper margin of the palm having a characteristic hooked form, characters that formed the basis of the identification of the Papua New Guinea specimens. Most of the characters of Sakai’s (2011) diagnosis of this species are of generic value only.

Figures

Figure 5. Allaxiopsis spinimana (De Man, 1905) male, NMV J67992: a, habitus; b, c, anterior carapace, dorsal and lateral views, with detail of rostrum; d, telson and uropod; e, major right cheliped, lateral; f, major right cheliped, fingers, mesial; g, minor left cheliped; h, maxilliped 3; i–l, pereopods 2–5; m, n, pleopod 2, with details of appendices interna and masculina. Scale bars = 1 mm. Bases of many setae indicated by small ovals.