Laomenes pardus Marin, 2009, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Marin, Ivan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Palaemonidae
Laomenes
Laomenes pardus

description: Laomenes pardus sp. nov.
(Figs. 8–12)
Material. Vietnam, Nhatrang Bay: 1 ovigerous female (holotype, pcl. 3.6 mm) (ZMMU), Mun Island, 15 m., on crinoid Comantheria briareus, 15.vi.2006, coll. I. Marin; 1 juvenile (pcl. 1.4 mm) (ZMMU), Nok Island, 15 m, on crinoid Comantheria cf. briareus, 2.vii.2006, coll. I. Marin; 1 ovigerous female (pcl. 3.5 mm), 1 male (pcl. 3.0 mm) (ZMMU), Nok Island, 10 m, on crinoid Comantheria cf. briareus, 20.viii.2006, coll. I. Marin.
Description. Holotype female (Fig. 15): Carapace smooth, with antennal and hepatic teeth (Fig. 16 A, B); hepatic tooth slender, larger than antennal; antennal tooth small and sharp situated close to inferior orbital angle. Rostrum long, straight, slightly compressed, with deep dorsal carina bearing 5 teeth; ventral margin slightly convex, with single tooth situated at level of distal margin of basal antennular segment; lateral lamina well developed, wide in its proximal part forming large and sharp supraocular teeth (Fig. 16 B). Orbit well developed. Inferior orbital angle produced, rounded distally. Pterygostomial angle rounded, not projected.
FIGURE. 14. Laomenes clarki sp. nov. A–C, holotype, female, Nhatrang Bay, Vietnam. D, paratype, male, same locality.
Abdominal somites smooth; pleura of abdominal somites I–V rounded ventrally (Fig. 15). Telson about 3 times as long as wide in proximal part, narrowing posteriorly, with 2 pairs of small dorsal spines arising from close to lateral margins and situated at 0.5 and 0.75 of telson length; three pairs of posterior spines containing short stout lateral, long slender intermediate and slender submedial spines which slightly longer than the half of the length of previous spines.
Eyes (Fig. 16 B) large and well developed, with subovate, slightly projecting cornea. Central cornea with small blunt apical papilla. Well marked accessory pigmented spot present posterodorsally.
Antennule (Fig. 16 C) well developed; basal segment about twice longer than wide, distolateral margin with acute distolateral tooth and medial rounded projection (lobe) (Fig. 16 D), reaching to distal margin of intermediate segment; submarginal ventral tooth situated near medial border of basal segment, with well developed stylocerite; intermediate antennular segment stout, about as long as wide; distolateral border rounded and distinctly produced distally; distal segment about 1.5 times longer than wide.
Antenna well developed, basicerite with medium acute distoventral tooth; carpocerite stout, about 1.5–2.0 times as long as wide; scaphocerite with blade slender, about 3 times longer than maximal width, overreaching intermediate antennular segment, with well developed acute distolateral tooth.
Epistomial horns well developed, sharp. Mouthparts (Fig. 16) typical for the genus, similar to L. amboinensis and Laomenes clarki sp. nov. described above. Mandible robust, without palp; incisor process well developed, broad, shovel-like, with 1 large and 8 small terminal teeth (Fig. 16 E); molar process well developed, robust, with stout acute teeth distally. Maxillule (Fig. 16 F) normal, with well developed bilobed palp; upper lacinia slightly curved, flaring distally, with strong setae distally; lower lacinia slender, tapering distally, with simple setae.
Pereiopod I (Fig. 17 A) slender, with slender chela and fingers; coxal segment with well developed curved lobe distoventrally; basis as long as wide; ischium about 3 times longer than wide; merus is about 7.5 time as long as wide; carpus slender, about 8 times as long as wide, longer than merus, slightly flaring distally, with well developed distolateral simple setae at carpo-meral articulation; palm (Fig. 17 B) stout, twice longer than wide, subcylindrical; dactylus and fixed finger slender, about 4.5 times longer than wide, slightly longer than palmar length, with entire cutting edges and simple tips.
Pereiopod II similar, with slender chela and long slender fingers (Fig. 17 C); coxal segment with well developed curved lobe distoventrally; basis as long as wide; ischium about 3.5 times longer than wide; merus about 4 times as long as wide, with distinct distoventral triangular projection; carpus (Fig. 17 D, E) slender, about 1.5 times as long as wide, considerably flaring distally, with ventrolateral notch; palm (Fig. 17 F) slen- der, about 3.5 times as long as wide, cylindrical; dactylus and fixed finger slender, about 5.5 times as long as wide, equal to palmar length, with straight and entire cutting edges bearing small triangular teeth along the length, with entire cutting edges and curved tips bearing terminal setae (Fig. 17 F).
Pereiopod III (Fig. 18 A) slender, with segments unarmed; basis stout; ischium about 4 times longer than wide; merus about 7 times longer than wide; carpus about 4 times as long as maximal width, slightly tapering proximally; propodus about 7.5 times longer than wide, with straight and smooth margins, with 1 or 2 distoventral small spines, with tufts of long slender setae distolaterally; dactylus (Fig. 18 C) robust, about as long as maximal width, with long and curved unguis; accessory tooth small, turned forward, situates at the middle of ventral margin; tuft of long slender setae present at the middle of dactylus. Pereiopods III–V similar.
Pleopods normal. Uropods slender, exceeding telson; distolateral margin of uropodal exopod with small fixed tooth and mobile spine.
Paratype male: Generally similar to holotype female. Pereiopod II slightly dissimilar in size. Appendix interna slightly longer than appendix masculina, with numerous subterminal cincinnuli. Appendix masculina with 2 long terminal and 2 subterminal plumose robust setae; lateral border with 3 well developed, long, straight and simple setae distomedially.
Coloration. Females and males generally similar in color (Fig. 19 A, C). General coloration of the body varies from light to dark red (Fig. 19 A–D). Body and appendages are covered with numerous, scattered white or yellow irregular spots. Additional bright white or yellow spots cover distal segments of pereiopods I–II, distal segments of antennule and distal margin of uropod.
Remarks. The species clearly differs from other species of the “ L. amboinensis ” species group by its slender chela and long fingers of pereiopod II; palm/dactylus ratio in L. pardus sp. nov. close to 1.0 while it is about 1.5 in L. amboinensis, about 1.7 in L. cornutus and close to 1.6 in L. clarki sp. nov. Palm of pereiopod II in L. pardus sp. nov. more slender than in L. amboinensis and L. cornutus (length/width ratio is 3.5 vs. 2.5 and 2.6, respectively); fingers of pereiopod II are more slender in L. pardus sp. nov. than in L. clarki sp. nov. and L. cornutus (length/width ratio is 5.5 vs. 4.0 and 2.0, respectively). Rounded projection (lobe) at distolateral margin of basal antennular segment well developed and situated medially in L. pardus sp. nov. while it is separated from distolateral tooth with a distinct depression and situated close to intermediate segment in L. clarki sp. nov. and absent in L. amboinensis. The eyestalk of L. pardus sp. nov. is longer than in L. cornutus similar to L. clarki sp. nov. and distinctly shorter than in L. amboinensis (length/width ratio is 1.4, 1.0, 1.4 and 2, respectively). Accessory tooth of dactylus of pereiopod III distinctly turned forward in L. pardus sp. nov. similar to L. clarki sp. nov. while the unguis is not as elongated as in the latter species; in L. amboinensis and L. cornutus accessory tooth turned down. Furthermore, L. pardus sp. nov. can be distinguished from all species of the genus Laomenes by its distinct, bright, spotty coloration consisting of numerous white irregular spots covering red background.
Host. All specimens of the species were collected from the comasterid crinoids Comantheria briareus (Bell, 1882) and Comantheria cf. briareus (Comasteridae) (Fig. 34 E, F).
Etymology. The species is named on the basis of a similar spotty coloration to the Old World felid cat, the Leopard, Panthera pardus (Linn.) (Mammalia, Felinidae).
Distribution. The species is presently only known with certainty from Nhatrang Bay, Vietnam. Numerous color photographs on the world-wide-web suggest that L. pardus sp. nov. occurs in the Philippines (Cebu and Mactan Islands) and Indonesia (Kima Bajo, North Sulawesi, Lembeh Straits, Manado, Komodo, Walea and Bangke Islands) (see Fig. 19 E–H).
description: Published as part of Marin, Ivan, 2009, Crinoid-associated shrimps of the genus Laomenes A. H. Clark, 1919 (Caridea: Palaemonidae: Pontoniinae): new species and probable diversity, pp. 1-49 in Zootaxa 1971 on pages 19-22, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.185020