Nematopaguroides karukera Lemaitre, Felder & Poupin 2017
Creators: name: Lemaitre, Rafael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Paguridae
Nematopaguroides
Nematopaguroides karukera

description: Nematopaguroides karukera Lemaitre, Felder & Poupin, 2017
(Fig. 7, 11B)
Nematopaguroides cf. fagei.— Gore, 1981: 159; Felder et al., 2009: 1070 (in part, see Remarks under N. fagei). Nematopaguroides karukera Lemaitre, Felder & Poupin, 2017: 160, figs 5–8, tab. 1 (type locality: off Deshaies, Guadeloupe,
16°17.51’N, 61°48.96’W); Poupin, 2018: 163.
Material examined. Southeastern Gulf of Mexico: 1 male 1.1 mm, Key Largo, Elbow Reef, Monroe County, Florida, R / V Johnson, JSL-I–690, 25°0.7.7’N, 80°15.9’’W, 18.3 m, 7 Jun 1979, on relic Montastrea (HBOI 89:4699); 1 male 1.2 mm, Dry Tortugas, R / V Pelican, NSF-I–31, DEB-0315995, 24°48.6’N, 83°40.6’W, 66.6 m, [with] Agaracia cca anadyomenae, dredge, 2 Jun 2004, coll D.L. Felder et al. (USNM 14657559, ex ULLZ 8948).
Curaçao, Lesser Antilles, Caribbean Sea: 1 male 1.5 mm, ARM 26, E of downline at Substatioin Curaçao dock, Bapor Kibra, transect 2, 12°04’56.11, 68°53’50.51, 55 m, 10 Oct 2016, BCURA 2053 (USNM 1558025); 1 male 1.0 mm, ARM 27, 91 m, [same as previous], 10 Oct 2016 (USNM 1558026); 1 sex indet. [specimen incomplete] 0.7 mm, ARM 30, [same as previous], 55 m, 12 Oct 2016, BCURA 2456 (USNM 1558027); 1 ov female 0.9 mm (USNM 1558029), 1 male 1.1 mm (USNM 1558030), ARM 31, [same as previous], 91 m, 12 Oct 2016, BCURA 2554; 1 male 1.0 mm, USNM 1558034, 1 ov female 1.0 mm (USNM 1558035), ARM 56, [same as previous], 55 m, 15 Nov 2018.
Bocas del Toro Province, Panama, Caribbean Sea: 2 ov females 1.5, 1.8 mm, Ponsak, 9.294°N, 82.332°W, BBDT-0155, BCS2016–004, 3.0– 3.5 m, lagoon fringing reef, Agaricia reef framework, 13 May 2016, colls M. Leray, F. Michonneau, R. Lasley (UF 044300); 1 male 1.0 mm, same as previous (UF 052160); 6 males 0.5–1.5 mm, 1 female 0.5 mm, 4 ov females 0.9–1.1 mm, runway, 9.342°N, 82.260°W, BBDT-1292, BCS2016–023, 4.0– 4.5 m, lagoon fringing reef, Agaricia reef framework, 19 May 2016, colls M. Leray, F. Michonneau, R. Lasley (UF 044398); 1 ov female 1.5 mm, [same as previous] (UF 052161); 4 males 0.9–1.5 mm, 3 ov females 0.9–1.0 mm, Seagal, 9.289°N, 82.296°W, BBDT-2565, BCS2016–038, 4.0– 4.5 m, lagoon fringing reef, Agaricia reef framework, 25 May 2016, colls M. Leray, F. Michonneau, R. Lasley (UF 044494).
Recognition characters. Shield as broad as long, dorsal surface smooth. Rostrum broadly rounded to obsolete. Ocular peduncles shorter than shield length, mesial surface of each with low knob bearing short, stiff setae, corneas moderately dilated; acicles terminating bluntly and with small submarginal spines. Chelipeds subequal in length, right stouter; palm or right cheliped with row small spines on dorsolateral and dorsomesial margins; palm of left cheliped with median, longitudinal row of minute. Pereopods 2 and 3 having well-spaced low knobs bearing long setae on dorsal margins of meri, carpi and propodi; dactyls nearly straight, with ventromesial row of 5–7 long, slen- der corneous spinules. Propodal rasp of pereopod 4 with single row of rounded scales. Telson posterior lobes nearly symmetrical, separated by median V-shaped cleft, terminal margins each armed with 2 or 3 small spines in addition to more prominent ventrally curved at lateral angle. Male with paired, asymmetrical sexual tubes on coxae of fifth pereopods; left sexual tube long, often coiled and distally filiform, right sexual tube conical, not distally filiform. Ovigerous female usually carrying few relatively large eggs (usually 3–8 on each pleopod) approximately 0.3 mm in maximum width.
Color (Fig. 7, 11B). Shield unevenly colored in camouflage pattern with irregularly shaped white or yellowishbrown blotches or spots, and usually faded red tiny spots on distal half. Ocular peduncles light yellow with faded red tiny spots and oval or rounded white spots; corneas light pink with white-dotted external lens. Antennular and antennal peduncles semi-transparent with light brownish cuticle; antennal flagella brown with approximately 8 or 9 short white bands. Chelipeds colored more or less in camouflaged pattern, dorsal surface mostly light yellow with irregularly shaped light brownish portions. Pereopods 2 and 3 (ambulatory legs) light yellow, semi-transparent; with two poorly defined brownish bands speckled with small yellowish spots on each merus, carpus, and propodi; dactyls with uneven brownish bands interspersed with yellowish portions. Sternum and ventral faces of coxae whitish or semi-transparent, with small reddish spots or blotches.
Distribution. Southeastern Gulf of Mexico, from Florida Keys, from Key Largo and Dry Tortugas; Caribbean Sea, from Guadeloupe and Curaçao in Lesser Antilles, and Bocas del Toro, Panama. Depth: 1– 91 m.
Remarks. This species was previously known based on the type specimens from Guadeloupe, on the eastern Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles (Lemaitre et al. 2017). The presence of Nematopaguroides karukera further south in Curaçao as well as in Bocas del Toro, Panama, on the southwestern Caribbean Sea, and the Florida Keys, in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, suggests that this species is broadly distributed in the Caribbean region. Affinities and differences with the two western Atlantic congeners, N. fagei and N. pusillus, are discussed in Lemaitre et al. (2017).
At the time of the discovery of Nematopaguroides karukera in the reefs of Guadeloupe, no color information or photographs were available to include in Lemaitre et al. ’s (2017) description of this species. Herein, the description of the color pattern of this species is reported based on photographs of additional specimens collected in Curaçao and Panama.
description: Published as part of Lemaitre, Rafael, 2020, New and rare micro-pagurid hermit crabs (Crustacea: Anomura: Paguridae) from the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, pp. 301-325 in Zootaxa 4722 (4) on pages 311-313, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4722.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3609542