Solenocera rathbuni Ramadan, 1938

Purushothaman, P., Chakraborty, Rekha Devi, Maheswarudu, G. & Kuberan, G., 2017, New records of Solenocera barunajaya Crosnier, 1994 and Solenocera rathbuni Ramadan, 1938 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Penaeoidea) from the southwest coast of India, Zootaxa 4341 (2) : -

Solenocera rathbuni Ramadan, 1938 ( Fig. 2 )

Solenocera lucasii, Rathbun, 1906: 904 , pl. XX, fig. 9

Solenocera rathbuni Ramadan, 1938: 57 , fig. 6.— Starobogatov 1972.— Ivanov & Hassan 1976.— Crosnier 1978: 163, fig. 49e, 52f, 57e, 59b, I, 62a–c, 63a–d.— Kensley et al. 1987: 276.— Dall 1999: 582.

Material examined. CMFRI (ID: ED.1.1.1.8) 2 males (one damaged; CL 12, 13 mm), India: Kerala, Cochin, southeastern Arabian Sea , 180–250 m, Oct 2015 .

Diagnosis. Carapace glabrous, shiny, pubescent at base of adrostral carina. Rostrum straight with upward anterior edge, reaching middle of eye. Rostrum with 7 dorsal teeth, including epigastic. Postrostral carina faintly present up to middle of carapace, connecting with top of cervical sulcus. Carapace with orbital angle, and smaller spines at antennal, hepatic, and branchiostegal regions; larger spine at supraorbital region. Cervical sulcus deep, almost reaching dorsum of pterygostomian region, bearing shallow depression at ventral side of pterygostomian angle; well-defined hepatic sulcus extending posteriorly. Inner antennular flagellum shorter than upper flagellum; 57 segmented; tapering. Dorsal side of 1 st and 2nd abdominal segments rounded, without carination; 3rd to 6th segments dorsally carinated, with sharp spine posteriorly. Telson shorter than uropodal endopod; with pair of immovable spines. Petasma with dorsomedian and dorsolateral lobules, bearing long spinules; ventrolateral lobule with single large tooth; lateral accessory lobule with 10 or 11 spinules.

Remarks. Crosnier (1978) described the key characters for the identification of S. rathbuni and its distinguishing characters from S. algoensis and S. waltairensis . The carapace, antennular flagella, and petasma are important diagnostic parts used in the identification of S. rathbuni . The present specimens are considerably larger than those described by Crosnier (1978) (CL 9.5–10.5 mm), but smaller than those studied by Kensley et al. (1987) (CL 17.5–25.8 mm) and similar to those reported by Dall (1999) (CL 12–15 mm).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Solenocera rathbuni Ramadan, 1938, male (CL 12 mm) (a); dorsal view of petasma (b); dorsal distal lobules with spinules (c); rostral characters (d); branchiostegal region (e).