Lophoplax vermiculata
Creators: name: Ng, Peter K. L.
name: Rahayu, Dwi Listyo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Pilumnidae
Lophoplax
Lophoplax vermiculata

description: Lophoplax vermiculata (A. Milne-Edwards, 1873)
(Figs. 1D–F, 2E–G, 4A–C, 5D, E, J, K, 6D, E, 7D, E, J, K, 8C, 9F, G, 11)
Pilumnus vermiculatus A. Milne-Edwards, 1873: 247, pl. 9 fig. 6; Miers 1886: 149; Kawamoto & Okuno 2003: 142; Marumura & Kosaka 2003: 57; Ng & Richer de Forges 2007: 327; Titelius et al. 2009: 154; Naruse 2010: 32.
Pilumnus (Parapilumnus) vermiculatus — Kossmann 1877: 38.
Planopilumnus vermiculatus — Balss 1933: 13, 41; Balss 1938: 70; Miyake 1939: 218, 239; Garth 1964: 141; Serène 1968: 86; Sakai 1976: 303, 492, pl. 176 fig. 2; Miyake 1983: 233; Garth et al. 1987: 246, 259; Nagai & Nomura 1988: 191; Takeda 1989: 168, 179; Takeda 1994: 211; Nomura et al. 1996: 17; Fransen et al. 1997: 119; Davie & Short 2001: 83; Sakai 2003: 26.
Platypilumnus vermiculatus — Davie 2002: 419.
“ Pilumnus ” vermiculatus — Ng et al. 2008: 142.
Lophoplax? sp. — Paulay et al. 2003: 501.
Vellumnus vermiculatus — Ng 2010: 51; Hosie et al. 2015: 276; Fujita 2018: 90.
Type material. Lectotype: male (10.6 × 8.2 mm) (ZRC 2022.696), under stones in middle of corals, New Caledonia, coll. M. Balansa, 1868–1872. Paralectotypes: 3 dried females (1 ovigerous) (MNHN B2848), New Caledonia, coll. M. Balansa, 1868–1872.
Other material examined. New Caledonia — 1 juvenile male (7.1 × 5.6 mm) (UF 39041), rubble field, north tip of Huon Atoll, 17.91°S 162.90°E, 0–3 m, coll. N. Evans, 13 November 2013; 1 male (13.9 × 11.0 mm) (UF 39325), lagoon, intertidal area, rock rubble, Surprise Island, 18.49°S 163.10°E, 0–3 m, coll. N. Evans, 19 November 2013; 1 female (17.3 × 12.9 mm) (UF 39279), rubble field, north tip of Huon Atoll, 17.91°S 162.90°E, 0–3 m, coll. N. Evans, 14 November 2013. Guam — 1 subadult male (5.6 × 4.5 mm) (ZRC 2013.1047), in rubble bed, ca. 3 m water, Pago Bay, coll. J. Starmer, 4 December 1998; 1 female (7.0 × 5.1 mm) (UF 785), on wall, Tepungan Channel, 13.5°N 144.8°E, ca. 2 m, at night, coll. L. Kirkendale, 17 November 1998; 1 male (14.1 × 10.8 mm) (UF 388), forereef, under rubble in surge zone, Pago Bay, 13.5°N 144.8°E, 4–8 m, coll. G. Paulay, 14 August 2000. Saipan — 1 female (14.2 × 11.3 mm) (UF 34958), Saipan Lagoon, North Marianas, 13.5°N 144.8°E, 3 m, coll. J. Starmer, no date. Palau — 1 male (12.8 × 10.3 mm) (UF 39950), back reefs, coral rubble and sand, near Uchelbelau Reef, 7.26°N 134.52°E, 0–1 m, coll. N. Evans & A. Catches, 29 May 2014. Pohnpei — 1 male (12.7 × 10.1 mm), 2 females (13.8 × 10.7 mm, 16.6 × 12.5 mm) (UF 5873), channel with seagrass and coral, next to Japanese dock at clam hatchery, Lenger Island, Caroline Islands, 6.99°S 158.23°E, 0–1 m, coll. J. Starmer, 14 March 2003. Japan —1 young male (7.2 × 5.7 mm) (ZRC 2013.169), Oura Village, Yawada, Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Islands, coll. T. Maenosono, 16 October 2008; 2 females (15.3 × 11.7 mm, 16.2 × 13.1 mm) (ZRC 2022.776), Sesoko Island, Motobu Town, Okinawa Island Group, Ryukyu Islands, coll. T. Maenosono, 3 June 2020; 1 female (13.7 × 10.5 mm) (ZRC 2022.775), Minatogawa, Urasoe City, Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Islands, coll. T. Maenosono, 4 January 2018; 2 males, 1 female (RUMF-ZC 5206), Benoki, Kumigani, Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Islands, coll. T. Maenosono, 16 April 2010.
Diagnosis. Carapace subquadrate (Fig. 4A–C); epigastric, hepatic, cardiac and intestinal areolets prominent, distinctly rugose, pitted; epigastric areolets relatively wide, fused with protogastric areolets to varying degrees (Fig. 4A–C); protogastric areolet relatively wide (Fig. 4A–C); cardiac areolet transverse in position (Fig. 4A–C); hepatic areolet prominent, proportionately long, reaching only to base of second anterolateral tooth (Fig. 4A–C); external orbital tooth triangular with sharp tip, relatively wide (Fig. 4A–C); tips of anterolateral teeth sharply pointed (Fig. 4A–C); junction between antero- and posterolateral margins demarcated by sharp granules and/or rugosities (Figs. 4A–C); epistome relatively wider longitudinally (Fig. 5D, E); median lobe of posterior margin of the epistome broadly triangular, with lateral margins gently concave (Fig. 5D, E). Third maxilliped with merus quadrate, ischium subrectangular (Fig. 5J, K). Dorsal and lateral surfaces of cheliped carpus with 2 obvious rugose, pitted longitudinal swellings, rest of surface rugose, granulate (Fig. 6D, E). Cheliped fingers not distinctly bent, pollex subparallel with ventral margin of palm (Fig. 7D, E). P2–P5 relatively short in adults, longer in subadults (Fig. 7J, K); outer surface of P3–P5 merus, carpus and propodus gently rugose, with low median longitudinal swelling (Fig. 7J, K). Male pleonal somites 4–6 transversely wider (Fig. 9F, G), telson wider than long, semicircular in shape (Fig. 11A). G1 strongly sinuous, distal part relatively shorter, gently hooked to straight or gently upcurved (Fig. 11B–D).
Colour in life. Carapace cream to white with symmetrical patches of magenta, red or orange on carapace, mostly on the gastric and branchial regions; pale magenta patches at joints of chelipeds and ambulatory legs (Fig. 1D–F).
Remarks. Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1873: 247, pl. 9 fig. 6) described this species but he did not indicate how many specimens he had. Sakai (1976: 491) in his discussion on Planopilumnus minabensis Sakai, 1969 (at present in Vellumnus Ng, 2010), commented that “The holotype of this species was compared with that of P. vermiculatus by courtesy of FOREST and GUINOT at Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris.” This is not correct as no holotype was selected by A. Milne-Edwards (1873). Fransen et al. (1997: 119) noted that they had some 18 syntype specimens in the Naturalis (Leiden) exchanged from Paris. In the ZRC is an old uncatalogued specimen presumably from old exchanges that is labelled as a syntype of the species. To stabilise the taxonomy of this species, this male is here designated as the lectotype of Pilumnus vermiculatus A. Milne-Edwards, 1873 (Figs. 2E, 4A, 11).
In establishing Vellumnus, Ng (2010: 51) commented that “ Vellumnus vermiculatus is peculiar in that the carapace setae are longer and concentrated along the anterolateral and frontal regions, with the surfaces below relatively more swollen rather than ridge-like. The figures provided for Pilumnus vermiculatus by A. Milne-Edwards (1873: 247, pl. 9 fig. 6) are somewhat schematic and do not show all the features of the species well. The types of V. vermiculatus examined actually more closely resemble species of Heteropilumnus De Man, 1895, and to some degree, Cryptocoeloma Miers, 1884 (see Ng 1987, 1989). For the moment, it is retained in Vellumnus as an atypical member of the genus.” A re-examination of the available material of V. vermiculatus now shows that it should instead be referred to Lophoplax. In the ZRC and UF are various specimens that had been identified by the first author as “ Lophoplax sp. ” (see Paulay et al. 2003); they are all L. vermiculata.
As with L. sordida n. sp., the setae on the carapace and pereopods of smaller specimens of L. vermiculata are finer, less dense and shorter than adults (Figs. 2F, 3B).
The Japanese specimens agree well with the material from Guam and New Caledonia in external morphology and we believe they are conspecific. The only difference is that the distal part of the G 1 in the type is gently curving downwards (Fig. 11B–D) whereas Maenosono (2019: fig. 14O, P) depicted it as gently curving upwards. In the material we have from Japan and Guam, the G1s are mostly straight or almost so. Such variation has previously been reported for Heteropilumnus satriai Yeo, Rahayu & Ng, 2004 (cf. Ng et al. 2018: fig. 9A–C, E–G).
Habitat. The types were collected from among under rocks in intertidal coral reefs in New Caledonia. Specimens have also been collected from shallow subtidal waters by snorkelling or SCUBA, in reef habitats, rubble habitats, near seagrass beds, up to depths of 8 m.
Distribution. New Caledonia, Pohnpei, Palau, Guam, Marshall Islands, Ryukyu Islands (Japan).
description: Published as part of Ng, Peter K. L. & Rahayu, Dwi Listyo, 2023, Review of the pilumnid crab genus Lophoplax Tesch, 1918 from the western Pacific, with descriptions of two new species, and the clarification of the identity of Pseudocryptocoeloma parvus Ward, 1936 (Crustacea: Brachyura), pp. 428-454 in Zootaxa 5244 (5) on pages 437-441, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5244.5.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7663766