Haliporus taprobanensis Alcock and Anderson, 1899a

Padate, Vinay P., K. A., Mary Baby, Cubelio, Sherine Sonia, Saravanane, Narayanane & Sudhakar, Maruthadu, 2020, First records of dendrobranchiate prawns (Decapoda: Dendrobranchiata) from the Andaman Sea, India, Journal of Natural History 54 (7 - 8), pp. 405-418 : 410-414

Haliporus taprobanensis Alcock and Anderson, 1899a

( Figures 4 , 5 )

Haliporus taprobanensis Alcock and Anderson, 1899a, p. 280 – Alcock and Anderson 1899b, pl. XLI, fig. 3 – Alcock 1901: p. 25 – Bouvier 1906: p. 4, 5, 6 – Bouvier 1908: p. 80, 81, 82 – De Man 1911: p. 7, 31 (list) – Pérez Farfante 1977: p. 263 – Crosnier 1978: p. 97, figs 34, 35, 39a, 40a, 42a –, Crosnier 1984: p. 23 –, Crosnier 1986: p. 865 (discussion) – Crosnier 1988: p. 576, figs 1c, 2b, 2g, 3b, 6d – f, 7, 8, 9c, 10c – d, 11 d – f – Dall 1999: p. 564, fig. 7.

Hymenopenaeus taprobanensis: Burkenroad 1936: p. 104 – Anderson and Lindner 1945: p. 290 (key) – Burukovsky 1974: p. 45 (key) – Burukovsky 1983: p. 60 (key).

Hymenopenaeus kannemeyeri Kensley, 1977, p. 27 , fig. 7.

Material examined

2 ♀, Andaman Sea, FORVSS stn. 36708, 13°15 ʹ 54 ” N, 93°15 ʹ 50 ” E, 635 m depth, CL (46.0 mm) ( IO /SS/DEN/00076), CL (51.0 mm) ( IO /SS/DEN/00077) .

Geographic and bathymetric distributions

Indian Ocean: 1006 m depth off Sri Lanka ( Alcock and Anderson 1899a), 775 – 825 m off South Africa ( Kensley 1977), 528 – 582 m and 675 m off Indonesia ( Crosnier 1984), 700 – 1200 m off Madagascar, 520 – 550 m and 1650 m off the Philippines ( Crosnier 1988), and northern Australia ( Dall 1999). The present study reports this species from a depth of 635 m in the Andaman Sea.

Diagnosis (modified from Crosnier 1988)

Rostrum moderately long (CL:RL 1.00:0.34), reaching as far as the distal end of second segment of antennular peduncle, dorsal margin nearly straight with 7 dorsal teeth, of which 3 are on carapace, ventral margin convex in nature.

Carapace short (TL:CL 1.00:0.30), post-rostral carina elevated, extending to posterior margin, epigastric tooth on anterior half, adrostral carina prominent, cervical groove deep, continuous across dorsal margin and terminating above hepatic groove ( Figure 4 (a)). Antennal, hepatic, pterygostomian spines present; hepatic groove commencing at base of orbital region and extending to its junction with branchio-cardiac groove. Branchio-cardiac carina and groove curve towards dorsal surface. A feeble post-hepatic carina commences behind hepatic spine and extends parallel to branchio-cardiac groove ( Figure 4 (a)).

Eyes moderately long, almost reaching distal end of basal segment of antennular peduncle, cornea wider than eyestalk; eyestalk with prominent tubercle characteristic of the species on inner margin ( Figure 4 (b)).

Upper and lower antennular flagellae sub-cylindrical, about as long as the entire body, first antennular segment with antero-median spine, prosartema well developed. Scaphocerite long, distally rounded, maximum width at base, median ridges usual ( Figure 4 (c)).

Maxilliped II – III with long filamentous exopods.

Pereiopods I – IV bear exopods and epipods, exopod in PV reduced, epipod absent. PI – III chelate, PI – II short (CL:TPLI 1.00:0.71; CL:TPLII 1.00:1.06), PIII long (CL:TPLIII 1.00:1.46). PI ischium and merus with 1 distal spine each; meri of PII – IV with 1 distal meral spine. PIV simple, long (CL:TPLIV 1.00:1.35), dactylus more than half as long as propodus (PPLIV:PDLIV 1.00:0.57). PV missing.

Abdomen long (TL:AL 1.00:0.46), all somites with mid-dorsal carina but without pits dorsally, somite I with low carina on posterior half, somites IV – VI with postero-dorsal spines ( Figure 4 (a)), somite V with depressed lateral carina; uropodal exopod with distolateral spine.

Telson with 1 pair of sub-apical fixed spines and 3 pairs of movable lateral spines.

Thelycum comprising small-sized tubercle between the bases of PIII and PIV, and a larger ovate tubercle between the bases of PV ( Figure 4 (d)).

Remarks

Haliporus taprobanensis is a large-sized species [maximum CL + RL 64 mm ( Alcock 1901); CL + RL 39.8 – 43.5 mm ( Kensley 1977); CL 34.2 – 57.5 mm ( Crosnier 1984); CL 15.3 – 49.5 mm ( Crosnier 1988); 41.5 – 56.0 mm ( Dall 1999); CL 46.0 – 51.0 mm (present study)] distributed across the Indo-West Pacific regions ( Dall 1999) ( Figure 5 ). This species was described from a female specimen (Indian Museum voucher number 3805/10) collected from 1006 m depth in the Gulf of Mannar off Sri Lanka during the deep-sea expedition of the RIMSS Investigator ( Alcock and Anderson 1899a) . The present observation is the first record from the Andaman Sea ( Figure 5 ).

This species is defined by a combination of the following morphological characters (following Crosnier 1988): integument firm; eye almost reaching the distal end of segment I of the antennal peduncle, cornea distinctly wider than the base of ocular peduncle, darkly pigmented; mid-dorsal ridge of abdominal somite I extending over half the space between transverse groove and posterior edge of somite; somite IV with tooth at the distal end of mid-dorsal ridge. The present confirmation of the species was on the basis of morphological characters such as dimensions of the eye, pleonal armature and shape of the thelycum following Crosnier (1988). The present specimens are characterised by: an elevated rostrum with 5 dorsal teeth; a distinct pterygostomian spine; the mid-dorsal ridge on pleonal somite I extending only half the distance between the transverse groove and posterior edge; the lack of pits and longitudinal grooves on the pleonal somites; pleonal somite IV with distinct tooth distally on the mid-dorsal ridge; and a relatively shorter somite VI. The morphology of the present specimens agrees with the original description of the holotype female, described by Alcock and Anderson (1899a) and depicted in pl. XVI, fig. 3 ( Alcock and Anderson 1899b).

The present specimens also show affinity with H. thetis Faxon, 1893 in having a firm integument, and a longer eye almost reaching segment I of the antennal peduncle with the cornea distinctly wider than the ocular peduncle.

According to Crosnier (1988), H. taprobanensis differs from H. curvirostris Spence Bate, 1881 in having a firm integument (vs soft integument in H. curvirostris ); secondly, H. taprobanensis possesses a longer eye almost reaching segment I of the antennal peduncle with cornea distinctly wider than the basal part of the ocular peduncle [vs shorter eye reaching only up to half the length of segment I of the antennal peduncle with cornea as wide as the ocular peduncle in H. curvirostris ( Crosnier 1988, fig. 1a)].

On the other hand, H. taprobanensis differs from H. thetis in lacking a pitted surface on pleonal somites I – IV [vs presence of pitted surface on pleonal somites I – IV in H. thetis ( Crosnier 1988, fig. 6g)]; secondly, in H. taprobanensis , the mid-dorsal ridge on pleonal somite I is restricted to the posterior half [vs the mid-dorsal ridge extending along the entire distance between the transverse groove and posterior edge in H. thetis ( Crosnier 1988, fig. 6g)]; thirdly, H. taprobanensis possesses a distinct distal tooth on the mid-dorsal ridge of pleonal somite IV [vs absent in H. thetis ( Crosnier 1988, fig. 6g)].

Figures

Figure 4. Haliporus taprobanensis Alcock and Anderson, 1899: (a) female, lateral view; (b) eye and eyestalk (arrow indicating the position of tubercle), dorsal view; (c) scaphocerite, dorsal view; (d) thelycum, ventral view. Scale bars: a = 50 mm; b–d = 500 μm.

Figure 5. Map indicating the geographical distribution of Haliporus taprobanensis Alcock and Anderson, 1899 in the Indo-Pacific oceans.