Sindheres, KAZMI & MANNING, 2003

KAZMI, Q. B. & MANNING, R. B., 2003, A new genus and species of pinnotherid crab from Karachi, northern Arabian Sea (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura), Journal of Natural History 37 (9), pp. 1085-1089 : 1086

Sindheres gen. nov.

Diagnosis. Size small, carapace 3.25 mm long, 5.0 mm wide in a unique holotype. Carapace sub-hexagonal, narrowing anteriorly, width greater than length, width greatest posterior to mid-length; regions poorly defined. Front very slightly projecting. MXP3 exopod with flagellum; ischium and merus indistinguishably fused, elongate; inner margin convex; palp three-segmented; propodus spatulate, longer than carpus, dactylus styliform, inserted below mid-length of ventral margin of propodus. Walking legs equal right and left; WL2 longest of walking legs, WL1–3 dactyli similar, subequal, falcate, strongly curved to sharp apex; WL4 dactylus slightly shorter than dactyli of WL1–3. Female abdomen of seven free somites, abdomen extended beyond bases of legs. Male unknown.

Type species. Sindheres karachiensis new species, by present designation and monotypy.

Etymology. An arbitrary combination of the name of the Pakistan province of Sindh and the ending - eres. The gender is musculine.

Remarks. Members of Sindheres can be distinguished at once from members of Pinnotheres Bosc, 1802 , in having the dactylus of MXP3 inserted near the midlength of the ventral margin of the propodus ( Manning, 1993: figure 1 (c)), rather than at its base ( Manning, 1993: figure 1 (b)). In this feature Sindheres resembles the eastern Atlantic Nepinnotheres Manning, 1993 , but in members of Nepinnotheres the carapace is sub-circular, with the length and width subequal, rather than subhexagonal, with the length much shorter than the width. In Sindheres , the mesial margin of the MXP3 ischium-merus is convex, whereas in N. pinnotheres the mesial margin of MXP3 is slightly concave proximally with an obtuse projection subdistally.

Figures

FIG. 1. Sindheres karachiensis gen. nov. and spec. nov. Female holotype 3.25×5 mm. (a) Dorsal view, right WL4 piercing through carapace; (a∞) front and eyes; (b) MXP3, right ventral; (b∞) same, palp, showing the dactylus insertion; (c) cheliped; (c∞) cutting edges; (d) left WL1–WL4 in toto; (e–h) WL1–WL4; (f ∞) dactylus of right WL2; (i) abdomen.