Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5627 No. 1: 24 Apr. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-04-24
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5627.1.4
Page range: 128-146
Abstract views: 117
PDF downloaded: 13

New records of the squat lobster genus Uroptychus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Chirostylidae) from West Africa: unexpected occurrence of the western Atlantic species U. nitidus (A. Milne Edwards, 1880) and description of a new species

Kumamoto University, Faculty of Education, 2-40-1 Kurokami, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan.
Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), C. acc. Cala Sant Francesc 14, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Spain.
Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 23050, USA.
Crustacea Deep-water integrative taxonomy eastern Atlantic West Africa

Abstract

Collections of a recent expedition to Guinea-Bissau, West Africa conducted by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography contain five specimens of two unusual species of the squat lobster genus Uroptychus Henderson, 1888, taken at 909 m depth. One of these represents an unidentified species herein described as U. pauroptilus sp. nov. and the other four are referable to U. nitidus (A. Milne Edwards, 1880), so far known only from the western Atlantic. The morphological relationships between the new species and its close relatives U. maroccanus Türkay, 1976 and U. tuerkayi Baba & Macpherson, 2017, both from the eastern Atlantic, are discussed. The identity of U. nitidus was confirmed by morphological and molecular analyses of a large series of specimens from the western and eastern Atlantic and by comparison with material of U. concolor (A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1894) from the eastern Atlantic. Phylogenetic relationships of these species as well as additional comparable species are discussed.

References

  1. Baba, K. (1977) Five new species of chirostylid crustaceans (Decapoda, Anomura) from off Midway Island. Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo, Series A (Zoology), 3, 141–156.
  2. Baba, K. (2018) Chirostylidae of the Western and Central Pacific: Uroptychus and a new genus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura). Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos. Vol. 30. Memoires du Muséum national d‘Histoire naturelle, 212, 1–612.
  3. Baba, K, Ahyong, S.T. & Macpherson, E. (2011a) Chapter 1. Morphology of marine squat lobsters. In: Poore, G.C.B., Ahyong, S.T. & Taylor, J. (Eds.), The Biology of Squat Lobsters. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne and CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 1–37.
  4. Baba, K., Fujita, Y., Wehrtmann, I.S. & Scholtz, G. (2011b) Chapter 4. Developmental biology of squat lobsters. In: Poore, G.C.B., Ahyong, S.T. & Taylor, J. (Eds.), The Biology of Squat Lobsters. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne and CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 105–148.
  5. Baba, K., Corbari, L. & Macpherson, E. (2024) Chirostylidae of the western Indian Ocean (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura). In: Corbari, L. & Castelin, M. (Eds.), Deepsea chirostylids and stylasterids from South-West Indian Ocean. Tropical Deep-Benthos. Vol. 34. Mémoires du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, 218, 13–221. https://doi.org/10.5852/mem218
  6. Baba, K. & Macpherson, E. (2012) A new squat lobster (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Chirostylidae) from off NW Spain. Zootaxa, 3224 (1), 49–56. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3224.1.3
  7. Baba, K. & Macpherson, E. (2017) Uroptychus tuerkayi sp. nov., a new squat lobster (Crustacea: Anomura: Chirostylidae) from the Atlantis-Great Meteor Seamount Chain in the eastern Atlantic. Crustaceana, 90, 807–817. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685403-00003618
  8. Baba, K., Macpherson, E., Poore, G.C.B., Ahyong, S.T., Bermudez, A., Cabezas, P., Lin, C.-W., Nizinski, M., Rodrigues, C. & Schnabel, K.E. (2008) Catalogue of squat lobsters of the world (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura—families Chirostylidae, Galatheidae and Kiwaidae). Zootaxa, 1905 (1), 1–220. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1905.1.1
  9. Baba, K. & Wicksten, M.K. (2017a) Uroptychus nitidus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1880) and related species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Chirostylidae) from the western Atlantic. Zootaxa, 4221 (3), 251–290. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4221.3.1
  10. Baba, K. & Wicksten, M.K. (2017b) Uroptychus atlanticus, a new species of squat lobster (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Chirostylidae) from the western Atlantic Ocean. Zootaxa, 4227 (2), 295–300. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4227.2.10
  11. Cartes, J.E., Papiol, V., Frutos, I., Macpherson, E., González-Pola, C., Punzón, A., Valeiras, X. & Serrano, A. (2014) Distribution and biogeographic trends of decapod assemblages from Galicia Bank (NE Atlantic) at depths between 700 and 1800 m, with connexions to regional water masses. Deep-Sea Research II, 106, 165–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.09.034
  12. Chace, F.A., Jr. (1942) The Anomura Crustacea. I. Galatheidea. Reports of the scientific results of the Atlantis Expeditions to the West Indies, under the joint auspices of the University of Havana and Harvard University. Torreia, 11, 1–106.
  13. Dong, D., Gan, Z. & Li, X. (2021) Descriptions of eleven new species of squat lobsters (Crustacea: Anomura) from seamounts around the Yap and Mariana Trenches with notes on DNA barcodes and phylogeny. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 192 (2), 306–355. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab003
  14. Elbrecht, V. & Leese, F. (2017) Validation and development of COI metabarcoding primers for freshwater macroinvertebrate bioassessment. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 5, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2017.00011
  15. Filhol, H. (1884) Explorations sous-marines. Voyage du Talisman. La Nature, Paris, 12, 119–122 + 134–138 + 147–151 + 161–164 + 182–186 + 198–202 + 230–234 + 278–282 + 326–330 + 391–394.
  16. Folmer, O., Black, M., Hoeh, W., Lutz, R. & Vrijenhoek, R. (1994) DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I from diverse metazoan invertebrates. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology, 3 (5), 294–299.
  17. Henderson, J.R. (1888) Report on the Anomura collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76, Zoology, 27, 1–221, 21 pls.
  18. Huelsenbeck, J.P. & Ronquist, F. (2001) MRBAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogenetic trees. Bioinformatics, 17, 754–755. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/17.8.754
  19. Le Guilloux, E., Hall-Spencer, J.M., Söffker, M.K. & Olu, K. (2010) Association between the squat lobster Gastroptychus formosus and cold-water corals in the North Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 90, 1363–1369. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315410000524
  20. Letunic, I. & Bork, P. (2019) Interactive Tree Of Life (iTOL) v4: recent updates and new developments. Nucleic Acids Research, 47 (W1), W256–W259. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkz239
  21. Milne-Edwards, A. (1880) Reports on the results of dredging under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea, 1877, 1878, 1879, by the U.S. Coast Survey Steamer "Blake", Lieut.-Commander C.D. Sigsbee, U.S.N., and Commander J.R. Bartlett, U.S.N., Commanding. VIII. Études préliminaires sur les Crustacés. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College, Cambridge, 8, 1–68, pls. 1 + 2.
  22. Milne-Edwards, A. & Bouvier, E.L. (1894) Considérations générales sur la famille des Galathéidés. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Series 7, Zoologie, 16, 191–327. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.10042
  23. Muñoz, I., Garcia-Raso, J.E., Abello, P. & Cuesta, J.A. (2024) Marine crabs of Guinea-Bissau, with emphasis on the deep fauna, supported by an integrative taxonomy. Diversity, 16 (2), 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/d16020093
  24. Ortmann, A.E. (1892) Die Decapoden-Krebse des Strassburger Museums, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der von Herrn Dr. Döderlein bei Japan und bei den Liu-Kiu-Inseln gesammelten und zur Zeit im Strassburger Museum aufbewahrten Formen. IV. Die Abteilungen Galatheidea und Paguridea. Zoologische Jahrbücher, Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere, 6, 241–326. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.26455
  25. Pohle, G. & Macpherson, E. (1995) Gastroptychus formosus (Filhol, 1884) (Decapoda, Anomura, Chirostylidae): Taxonomic history and first record from the western Atlantic. Crustaceana, 68, 484­–488. https://doi.org/10.1163/156854095X00692
  26. Poore, G.C.B. & Ahyong, S.T. (2023) Marine Decapod Crustacea. A Guide to Families and Genera of the World. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton South and CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, vii + 916 pp. https://doi.org/10.1071/9781486311798
  27. Poore, G.C.B. & Andreakis, N. (2011) Morphological, molecular and biogeographic evidence support two new species in the Uroptychus naso complex (Crustacea: Decapoda: Chirostylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 60, 152–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2011.03.032
  28. Rodríguez-Flores, P.C., Seid, C.A., Rouse, G.W. & Giribet, G. (2023) Cosmopolitan abyssal lineages? A systematic study of East Pacific deep-sea squat lobsters (Decapoda: Galatheoidea: Munidopsidae). Invertebrate Systematics, 37 (1), 14–60. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS22030
  29. Roterman, C.N., Copley, J.T., Linse, K.T., Tyler, P.A. & Rogers, A.D. (2013) The biogeography of the yeti crabs (Kiwaidae) with notes on the phylogeny of the Chirostyloidea (Decapoda: Anomura). Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, 280, 20130718. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0718
  30. Schnabel, K.E. (2020) The Marine Fauna of New Zealand. Squat lobsters (Crustacea, Decapoda, Chirostyloidea). NIWA Biodiversity Memoir, 132, 1–351.
  31. Schnabel, K.E., Burghardt, I. & Ahyong, S.T. (2017) Southern high latitude squat lobsters II: description of Uroptychus macquariae sp. nov. from Macquarie Ridge. Zootaxa, 4353 (2), 327–338. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4353.2.4
  32. Schnabel, K.E., Cabezas, P., McCallum, A., Macpherson, E., Ahyong, S.T. & Baba, K. (2011) Chapter 5. World-wide distribution patterns of squat lobsters. In: Poore, G.C.B., Ahyong, S.T. & Taylor, J. (Eds.), The Biology of Squat Lobsters. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne and CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 149–182.
  33. Trifinopoulos, J., Nguyen, L.T., von Haeseler, A. & Minh, B.Q. (2016) W-IQ-TREE: a fast online phylogenetic tool for maximum likelihood analysis. Nucleic Acids Research, 44 (W1), W232–W235. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkw256
  34. Türkay, M. (1976) Decapoda Reptantia von der portugiesischen und marokkanischen Küste Auswertung der Fahrten 8, 9c (1967), 19 (1970), 23 (1971) und 36 (1975) von F.S. Meteor. “Meteor” Forschungs-Ergebnisse, Reihe D, 23, 23–44.

How to Cite

Baba, K., Macpherson, E. & Rodríguez-Flores, P.C. (2025) New records of the squat lobster genus Uroptychus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Chirostylidae) from West Africa: unexpected occurrence of the western Atlantic species U. nitidus (A. Milne Edwards, 1880) and description of a new species. Zootaxa, 5627 (1), 128–146. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5627.1.4