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| Helice epicure Ng, Naruse & Shih, 2018 |
Helice epicure, a new species of varunid crab, is described from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The new species in the genus Helice De Haan, 1833 can be distinguished from its congeners by morphological differences in the chelae and suborbital crenulation. The morphological differences between the new species and a sister clade (the H. latimera complex, including H. latimera Parisi, 1918, H. tientsinensis Rathbun, 1931 and H. formosensis Rathbun, 1931) are supported by mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) divergences. However, the phylogenetic relationship within the H. latimera complex is unresolved for the time being.
Key words: Helice epicure, H. formosensis, New species, Varunidae, Mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I.
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| Helice epicure sp. nov. Paratype, male (26.4 × 30.1 mm) (RUMF-ZC-3069). (A) dorsal entire view; (B) cephalothorax, ventral view; (C) right chela, outer view. |
Helice epicure, sp. nov.
Etymology: The species name ‘epicure’ is used here as a Latin noun, derived from ‘epikouros’, a noun in Greek for ‘food lover’ or a person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink; this alludes to the late Professor Michael Türkay, a food connoisseur, who strongly believed in eating well and working hard. ‘Epikouros’ in Latin is ‘Epicurus’, also the name of a famous ancient Greek philosopher, whose insistence that nothing should be believed except that which was tested through direct observation and logical deduction made him a key figure in the development of science and scientific methodology.
Distribution: The new species is found in central to southern Ryukyus, including the islands of Amami-Ohshima, Okinawa, Kumejima, Ishigaki and Iriomote. Authors who recorded Helice from the Ryukyu Islands are almost certainly referring to the new species instead (Table 1), although we were not able to examine their material. Our sampling covered most of the Ryukyu Islands (from Amami to Iriomote), and all the specimens belong to the new species. Paratypes are designated to the specimens collected from Yaeyama Islands (including the islands of Ishigaki and Iriomote), as the other main localities, including the islands of Okinawa and Amami, are located relatively far from the type locality (> 300 km).
Ngan Kee Ng, Tohru Naruse and Hsi-Te Shih. 2018. Helice epicure, A New Species of Varunid Mud Crab (Brachyura, Decapoda, Grapsoidea) from the Ryukyus, Japan. Zool Stud. 57:15. doi:10.6620/ZS.2018.57-15
http://zoolstud.sinica.edu.tw/Journals/57/57-12.pdf