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| Munidopsis hawaii Rodríguez Flores & Schnabel, 2023 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14956 Image provided by Natilus Live Ocean Exploration Trust. |
Abstract
The Hawaiian Archipelago remains extensively under-sampled for many marine invertebrate taxa, including squat lobsters. During the last few years, several deep-sea expeditions carried out in the Pacific Ocean have conducted opportunistic collections of specimens and image data from the vicinity of Hawai’i. Here we describe a new species: Munidopsis hawaii sp. nov. and provide new records for Munidopsidae in the Archipelago and its associations. We illustrate and describe the new species using an integrative approach including micro-CT 3D imaging. Phylogenetic analyses of the species collected from seamounts from Hawai’i indicate that the new species represents a divergent lineage compared to morphologically similar species such as M. dispar and M. papanui. We also study the genetic distances for the species recorded in Hawai’i and other populations of the same species in the adjacent West Pacific. Three species are now known in the Hawaiian region. We also compiled identifications from images captured with ROVs in the area. These observations suggest that munidopsid species are common in the deep sea of Hawaiian waters below 1,000 m.
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| In situ images of deep-sea squat lobsters. (A) Munidopsis dispar Dong, Gan & Li, 2021, Off Hawaii’i, Stn NA101-060-01-B (MCZ IZ-151064). (B) Munidopsis guochuani Dong, Gan & Li, 2021, Off Hawai’i, Stn NA101-080 (MCZ IZ-151038-9). (C) Munidopsis hawaii sp. nov., Off Hawai’i, Stn NA101-070-01 (MCZ IZ-151054). Images provided by Natilus Live Ocean Exploration Trust. |
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| Munidopsis hawaii sp. nov., Off Hawai’i, Stn NA101-070-01 (MCZ IZ-151054). Image provided by Natilus Live Ocean Exploration Trust. |
Munidopsis hawaii sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Carapace and abdomen dorsally covered with denticulate tubercles and granules. Carapace with dorsal deep furrows, cervical grooves distinct. Rostrum narrow, with a blunt tip. Frontal margins slightly concave. Orbit slightly excavated, outer orbital angle with a blunt lobe. Anterolateral angle bluntly produced. Branchial margin unarmed. Abdominal somites unarmed. Telson divided into eight plates. Sternite 3 anterolaterally produced, anterior margin with a median acute lobe flanked by two rounded lobes; sternite 4 anteriorly narrowly subtriangular. Eyes unmovable, unarmed, epistomial spine absent. Article 1 of antennule with well-developed dorsolateral process, mesially concave. Article 1 of antenna with distomesial blunt process, distolateral spine short, broad. Mxp3 merus subrhomboidal in lateral view, extensor margin distally unarmed. P1 moderately slender, with granules and tubercles, unarmed; fixed finger without denticulate carina on distolateral margin. P2–4 moderately slender, with numerous granules and tubercles, unarmed; meri cylindrical in cross section; dactyli slender, curving; flexor margin with obsolescent teeth on distal two-thirds. Epipods present on P1–3.
Etymology. Named after the Hawaiian Archipelago since this species would constitute the first munidopsid species described from the area. The name is a substantive in apposition.
Paula C. Rodríguez Flores and Kareen E. Schnabel. 2023. New Records and Species of Deep-sea Squat Lobsters (Galatheoidea, Munidopsidae) from the Hawaiian Archipelago: An Integrative Approach using micro-CT and Barcodes. PeerJ. 11:e14956. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14956
