Parapalicus aff. piruensis Moosa & Serène, 1981

Castro, Peter, 2010, A new species and new records of palicoid crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Palicoidea, Palicidae, Crossotonotidae) from the Indo-West Pacific region, Zoosystema 32 (1), pp. 73-86 : 82

Parapalicus aff. piruensis Moosa & Serène, 1981

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Philippines. PANGLAO 2004, Bohol I., Panglao I., stn T 2, Bolod, 09°32.4’N, 123°47.3’E, 83-102 m, 30. V.2004, 1 pre-adult ♀ ( ZRC 2008.0954). — Stn T 4, Bolod, 9°33.0’N, 123°48.5’E, 82 m, 1. VI.2004, 1 ovig. ♀ ( ZRC 2008.1078). — Stn T 6, Bohol Island, west of Baclayon, 9°35.1’N, 123°51.2’E, coarse muddy sand, 34-82 m, 2. VI.2004, 3 ovig. ♀, 1 pre-adult ♂ ( ZRC 2008.1085). — Stn T 9, off San Isidro, 09°33.501’N, 123°49.497’E, fine sand and seagrass, 97-120 m, 14. VI.2004, 1 ovig. ♀, ( ZRC 2008.1083). PANGLAO 2005, Bohol Sea, stn DW 2400, 09°32.5’N, 123°41.8’E, 111-163 m, 31. V.2005, 1 ♂ feminised by sacculinid ( ZRC 2008.1080). — Stn CP 2408, 09°43.5’N, 123°41.1’E, 137-153 m, 1. VI.2005, 1 ♀ ( ZRC 2008.1081).

REMARKS

Five specimens from five stations in the Philippines (ZRC 2008.0954, 2008.1078, 2008.1081, 2008.1083, 2008.1085) are close to Parapalicus piruensis Moosa & Serène, 1981 , known from Indonesia, New Caledonia and Fiji ( Castro 2000: table 6, fig. 58). All specimens share some characters of the general morphology of the carapace and ambulatory legs with P. piruensis : finely granular carapace; triangular and acute-tipped anterolateral teeth; suborbital borders each with a wide, V-shaped gap between the inner and outer suborbital lobes, the outer lobe much smaller than the inner lobe; and short ambulatory legs ( Moosa & Serène 1981: fig. 2b, pl. 1C; Castro 2000: fig. 26b). The outer orbital teeth, however, are obtuse (triangular and acute-tipped in P. piruensis ), and the cheliped propodus has two conspicuous and triangular proximal tubercles (smooth in P. piruensis ). The only male specimen in the collection was feminised by a sacculinid. The large, rounded feminised abdomen has two elongated anterior tubercles on somite 3 (a characteristic of P.piruensis ; Castro 2000: fig. 25a), but a triangular tooth medially that is absent in P. piruensis . The G1 is reduced, with a slightly sinuous proximal part, a straight distal part, and a truncated apex that has a small triangular tooth (a biramous, curved, truncated apex in P. piruensis ; Castro 2000: fig. 25b-d). The morphology of the G1 is unique for Parapalicus but its reduction in size and relative simplicity could probably be the result of feminisation.

Four specimens collected from another station in the Philippines (ZRC 2008.1085) are also close to P.piruensis : a finely granular carapace; triangular and acute-tipped anterolateral and outer orbital teeth; suborbital borders each with a wide, V-shaped gap between the inner and outer suborbital lobes, the outer lobe much smaller than the inner lobe; and short ambulatory legs. The cheliped propodus, however, has one short tubercle (in contrast to two conspicuous and triangular tubercles in the other five specimens of P. aff piruensis from the Philippines) by having distinctive lobes on the supraorbital borders. There is only one male specimen, a pre-adult with the abdomen missing. The G1 are not fully developed, being soft and straight, not spiral or sinuous as in other species of Parapalicus . Each G1 has three short, obtuse distal processes, very different from the G1 of P. piruensis (see Castro 2000: fig. 25b-d).

It is opted not to describe the nine specimens on hand as new species because of the absence of normal male specimens because the morphologies of the G1 and the male abdomen are essential in the characterization of Parapalicus species.