Afrophila punctata, n. comb.
Creators: name: Galil, Bella S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Leucosiidae
Afrophila
Afrophila punctata

description: Afrophila punctata (Bell, 1855) n. comb.
(Figs 2C; 4)
Philyra punctata Bell, 1855a: 365; 1855b: 301, pl. 33, fig. 2; 1855c: 15. — Stebbing 1902: 17; 1910: 336. — Doflein 1904: 45, pl. 15, fig. 1-4. — Balss 1921: 52. — Barnard 1950: 377, fig. 72 a-e. — Serène 1968: 46. — Kensley 1981: 39.
TYPE MATERIAL. — Lectotype: South Africa. Simon’s Bay, 4-7 fms, HMS Rattlesnake, 8.III-10.IV.1847, coll. John Macgillivray, 1 ♂ c.l. 11.7 (NHM 1850.39). Same data, paralectotype, 1♂ c.l. 5.8 mm (NHM 1850.39).
MATERIAL EXAMINED. — South Africa. Between Port Elizabeth and Mossel Bay, 32 m, 15.II.1980, coll. B. Kensley, 1 ♂ cl 22.9 mm, 1 ovig. ♀ cl 13.6 mm (USNM 221770). — Between Mossel Bay and Algoa Bay, 32 m, 15.II.1980, coll. B. Kensley, 1 ♂ cl 20.1 mm, 1 ovig. ♀ cl 13.7 mm (USNM 252713). — Algoa Bay, 33°47’S, 26°04’E, 47 m, 23.V.1958, id. K. H. Barnard, 1 ♂ cl 15.6 mm, 1 ovig. ♀ cl 16.9 mm, 3 juvs (SAM A39551). — Kwelera Bay, 12 m, 7.I.1958, coll. S. Muller, id. W. Emmerson, 1♂ cl 16.3 mm, 1 ovig. ♀ cl 14.8 mm (SAM A45509). — Saldanha Bay, 2 juvs (SAM A11995); 1 ♂ cl 17.2 mm, 3 ♀♀ cl 11.5-12.2 mm (SAM A12148).
DISTRIBUTION. — Known only from the Cape Province (Saldanha Bay to Algoa Bay), South Africa.
DESCRIPTION
Dorsal surface of carapace minutely granulate, punctuate, punctae more prominent in female specimens. Branchio-cardiac grooves nearly effaced; intestinal region slightly tumescent. Frontal margin sinuous, medially with minute denticle. Circumference of carapace beaded; granules larger, more prominent on lower margin of hepatic facet. Anterior margin of epistome convex, medially notched. Anterior margins of efferent canals prominently denticulate, with distinct gap opposite external orbital angle. External maxillipeds minutely granulate. Dorsal margin of hepatic facet unmarked. Pterygostomian region, sternum, prominently granulate. Anterior margin of male abdominal sulcus prominently granulate. Cheliped granulate; merus triquetral in cross-section, fingers as long as palm, with inner margins evenly denticulate. Granulation in female specimens less prominent. Pereiopodal meri, carpi bearing granules ventrally; propodi dorsally and ventrally carinate. Second abdominal segment of male transversely carinate, boldly granulate, fused male abdominal segments 3-5 granulate, lacking basal knobs laterally. Margins of fused abdominal segments in female minutely granulate. First male pleopod distally arched, tip rounded.
Colour
“Pinkish or salmon, usually (especially in juv.) a paler or white lozenge-shaped or cuneiform patch on gastric region, sometimes extending back on to cardiac and intestinal regions.” (Barnard 1950: 378).
REMARKS
Bell (1855b: 301, 302, pl. 33) described P. punctata from material collected by HMS Rattlesnake in Simon’s Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and presented to the British Museum (MacGillivray 1852). Bell did not designate a holotype or state the number of specimens examined, but indicated that one specimen was a male, “Abdomen (male) with the third” and the length of a specimen was 0.5 in. Bell (1855b: pl. 33, figs 2, 2a, 2b, 2c) also illustrated a female abdomen (fig. 2c).
Extant in the collections of the NHM are two dry specimens of P. punctata labeled Simon’s Bay, S Africa dredged in 4 to 7 fathoms sand. Both specimens are males, one of which has a carapace length of 11.7 mm which is approximately 0.46 inches. This is considered to be the specimen described by Bell in his text. The other male is about 5.8 mm, and this is more like figure 2 in Bell (1855b: pl. 33, figs 2, 2a, 2b, 2c) in terms of appendage positioning than the male above, but in this instant may not be significant because all the Leucosiidae figures in the paper are similarly stylized. There is no female specimen in with this dry material deposited in the NHM. The larger male is designated here as the lectotype. The type status of the smaller male cannot be clarified reading from Bell’s text.
description: Published as part of Galil, Bella S., 2009, An examination of the genus Philyra Leach, 1817 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Leucosiidae) with descriptions of seven new genera and six new species, pp. 279-320 in Zoosystema 31 (2) on pages 287-288, DOI: 10.5252/z2009n2a4, http://zenodo.org/record/5399261