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| Thalassina pratas
Lin, Komai & Chan, 2016
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Abstract
A new species of the mud lobster genus Thalassina Latreille, 1806, is described and illustrated on the basis of a single female specimen from Dongsha (Pratas) Island, South China Sea. Thalassina pratas, new species, appears closest to T. spinosa Ngoc-Ho & de Saint Laurent, 2009, but its less spiny carapace immediately distinguishes the new species from T. spinosa. Thalassina anomala (Herbst, 1804) is also substantially similar to the new species, but the presence of spines on the cervical ridge on the carapace immediately separates the new species. The holotype of the new species was collected from subtidal seagrass beds in a fully marine lagoon, an unusual habitat for Thalassina, of which other species are seen in estuarine habitats or mangroves.
Key words. Gebiidea, Thalassina, new species, Dongsha, Pratas Island, seagrass beds
Colouration in life. Carapace orange-brown on dorsum, lateral surface whitish; pleon also orange-brown in terga, but pleura whitish; pereopods brown-orange in dorsal sides, whitish in ventral sides; cornea of eye blackish (Fig. 1A).
Distribution. Known only from the type locality, Dongsha Island in the South China Sea, in fully marine seagrass beds at depths of 1–2 m.
Etymology. The species is named after the type locality (Pratas = Dongsha Island), used as a noun in apposition. It also alludes to the new species’ unusual presence in a seagrass bed, since the Latin “pratum” means grass lawn or meadow.
Feng-Jiau Lin, Tomoyuki Komai and Tin-Yam Chan. 2016. A New Mud Lobster of the Genus Thalassina Latreille, 1806 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Gebiidea: Thalassinidae) from Marine Seagrass Beds in Dongsha (Pratas) Island, South China Sea.
RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY. 64: 98–104
RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY. 64: 98–104