Munidopsis serricornis ( Lovén, 1852 ), Loven, 1852

Macpherson, Enrique, Beuck, Lydia & Freiwald, Andrè, 2016, Some species of Munidopsis from the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Straits and Caribbean Sea (Decapoda: Munidopsidae), with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 4137 (3), pp. 405-416 : 409-410

Munidopsis serricornis ( Lovén, 1852)

( Figs. 5 C–D)

Restricted synonymy:

Galathea serricornis Lovén 1852: 22 ( Sweden; type lost).

Munidopsis serricornis .— Baba et al. 2008: 160 (compilation).— Matos-Pita & Ramil 2014: 428 ( Mauritania, 975–984 m).— Cartes et al. 2014: 168 (Bank of Galicia, NW Spain, 761–1041 m).— Ahyong 2014: 197 (review of Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean records).

Material examined. West Florida Slope (Gulf of Mexico): SMF 49250, 1 ovigerous female, 10.1 mm, RV ‘ Maria S. Merian’ MSM 20/4 Station GeoB 163 34-1-6, ROV dive 6 subsample 5, 26°20.198’N, 84°45.672’W, 522 m water depth, 27 March 2012, inside live Enallopsammia profunda (Pourtalès, 1867) colony associated with gastropods, amongst Coralliophila sp., ophiuorids, isopods, amphipods, Scalpellum sp.

Colour in life. The present specimen has the carapace and abdomen pale-orange, with whitish median longitudinal stripe; P1–4 pale-orange. Mayo (1974) quoted the colour note from Bouvier (1922) who described the freshly captured specimen was "cream white".

Remarks. Munidopsis serricornis was considered a nearly cosmopolitan species distributed in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans ( Baba et al. 2008). However, Ahyong (2014) demonstrated the existence of a complex of numerous species in the Indo-West Pacific, suggesting that M. serricornis is restricted to both sides of the northern Atlantic, from the Caribbean Sea to Mauritania, including the Mediterranean Sea, between 92 and 2165 m. Nevertheless, some morphological differences, including different colour patterns, in the specimens collected in different localities recommend a revision of the Atlantic material, in order to confirm the existence of a unique or a complex of species.

Mayo (1974) examined a large collection of M. serricornis from both sides of the North Atlantic, including different localities of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. She considered that all the specimens she examined belong to the same species, synonymizing M. bahamensis Benedict, 1902 (type locality: off the coast of Florida) and M. tenuirostris Benedict, 1902 (type locality: off the coast of Georgia) with M. serricornis (type locality: W coast of Norway). Mayo (1974) considered that the variations observed in some characters (e.g., shape of the rostrum) are not specific. However, the colour pattern shows some clear differences among specimens from different areas: carapace and abdomen reddish white, whitish or cream white entirely for northeast Atlantic specimens ( Mayo, 1974; Ingle & Christiansen 2004 (citing Lovén 1852); Poore et al. 2011; EM, personal observations), and pale-orange, with a whitish median longitudinal stripe in the western Atlantic ( Fig. 5 D). The latter colour pattern is observed in M. treis Ahyong & Poore, 2004 . We have compared whitish specimens from Norway and north-east Spain, with the present specimen (pale-orange, with whitish median longitudinal stripe). The rostrum of our specimen seems clearly shorter and wider (as in M. bahamensis and M. tenuirostris ) than in the specimens from East Atlantic ( Norway, north-east Spain, Mediterranean Sea). Therefore, it would be interesting to review this material from the Atlantic Ocean, using morphological and molecular data, in order to confirm the existence of one or more taxa.

Our specimen of M. serricornis was collected inside a live Enallopsammia profunda colony ( Fig. 5 C–D). The species has been usually recorded on deep-water gorgonians and scleractinian corals, e.g., Lophogorgia spp., Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata ( Buhl-Mortensen & Mortensen 2004; Cartes et al. 2014). These coral communities seem to play an important role in the distribution and abundance of Munidopsis (Cordes et al. 2008; Cartes et al. 2014), as well as an important source of food for Munidopsis species (Becker et al. 2008).

Distribution. Both sides of the northern Atlantic only, from the Caribbean Sea to Mauritania, including the Mediterranean Sea, between 92 and 2165 m.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Munidopsis on host substrate. A, B, Munidopsis tuerkayi n. sp., paratype, male, 7.9 mm (SMF 49251); C, D, Munidopsis serricornis, ovigerous female, 10.1 mm (SMF 49250). A, habitat of sample before collection; fan-shaped Candidella imbricata (Johnson, 1862) colonies attached to rock exposure (copyright MARUM 2012). B, Candidella imbricata sample collected with a multitude of Gorgoniapolynoe caeciliae (Fauvel, 1913) kept in sea-water with in-situ ambient temperature; note the pale-pink colour patterns on the whitish carapace and abdomen resembling the octocoral polyp colour. C, habitat of sample before collection; live Enallopsammia profunda (Pourtalès, 1867) colony on rock exposure (copyright MARUM 2012). D, close-up of sample; note the pale-orange colour patterns of the carapace and abdomen, resembling the colour of the Enallopsammia profunda polyp tissue.