Thalamita intermedia Miers, 1886

Manikandan, K, Megalaa, N, Valliappan, Subramanian, Nandini, K, Rani, Lourdu V, Dakshinamurthi, Senthil & Nagappan, Nagappan, 2022, Crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Seas of East and Southeast Asia Collected by the RV Hakuhō Maru (KH- 72 - 1 Cruise) 3. Sahul Shelf, Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science. Series A, Zoology 48 (2), pp. 35-83 : 64

Thalamita intermedia Miers, 1886

( Fig. 14A–C )

Material examined. RV Hakuhō Maru KH-72-1 cruise, sta. 29, 1 Ə ( CB 12.7 mm including lateral teeth×CL 8.6 mm), 1$damaged (CL 12.5 mm), NSMT-Cr 30737.

Remarks. The carapace of one of the specimens of Thalamita intermedia examined is damaged at the left anterolateral part, but the frontal and right anterolateral portions and the chelipeds agree well with those of another specimen ( Fig. 14A–C ). This small species is rare, but has been well pictured by the original author ( Miers, 1886: 196, pl. 16 fig. 1), and Stephenson and Hudson (1957: 41, fig. 4, pl. 3 fig. 4, pl. 10 fig. G).

Thalamita intermedia is characteristic in having four-lobed front with straight margin; the lateral lobe is separated from the median lobe by a small notch and slightly less than twice as wide as the median lobe; the carapace is narrow, with the anterolateral sharp teeth obliquely directed outward; the carapace fourth anterolateral tooth is the smallest, but distinct; the first male pleopod is straight for its distal half, with the tip truncated. Due to the four-lobed front, T. annulipes Stephenson and Hudson, 1957 , T. sexlobata Miers, 1886 , T. malaccensis Gordon, 1938 are rather similar to T. intermedia . However, they are distinguished from M. intermedia by the following key characters: the frontal median lobe is slightly more than half breadth of the lateral lobe, projecting beyond the lateral lobe ( T. annulipes), the frontal median lobe is rather convex anteriorly and the lateral lobe is concave anteriorly ( T. malaccensis ), the carapace is rather wide, with a prominent last anterolateral tooth, and the fourth anterolateral tooth is rudimentary ( T. sexlobata).

The other reliable records of T. intermedia are those by Ortmann (1894), Rathbun (1924) and Hale (1927) as quoted above, and it is difficult to confirm the identity of two queried records by Alcock (1899) from Sri Lanka and Holthuis (1953) from the Marshall Islands.

Distribution. Australian waters: Torres Strait, Queensland, Western Australia and Great Australian Bight, ca. 5–25 m depth. The record of this species appeared in Sukmaningrum et al. (2018, fig. 1J) dealing with crab diversity in the intertidal zone at Gunungkidul, Java Island, Indonesia, is highly probable.

Figures

Fig. 14.ɹA–C: Thalamita intermedia Miers, Ə (NSMT-Cr 30737; CB 12.7×CL 8.6mm) from sta. 29. Dorsal view (A), right anterolateral teeth (B), and front-orbital margin (C). D–F: Thalamita sima H. Milne Edwards, Ə (NSMT-Cr 30738; CB 20.2×CL 14.0mm)from sta. 30. Dorsal view (D), frontal margin (E), and both chelae (F).