Balsscallichirus masoomi
Creators: name: Al-Kandari, Manal
name: Anker, Arthur
name: Hussain, Sumaiah
name: Al-Yassen, Sharifa
name: Sattari, Zainab
name: Grave, Sammy De
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Callianassidae
Balsscallichirus
Balsscallichirus masoomi

description: Balsscallichirus masoomi (Tirmizi, 1970)   
(Fig. 12)  
 Callianassa (Callichirus) masoomi Tirmizi, 1970: 245, figs. 1–3.   
 Podocallichirus masoomi. — Sakai 1999: 58; Sakai 2005: 192; Sepahvand & Sari 2010: 47, fig. 5.   
 Tirmizicallichirus masoomi. — Sakai 2011: 475; Naderloo & Türkay 2012: 18.   
 Callichirus masoomi. — Sepahvand et al. 2013: 5; Sepahvand et al. 2014: 142.   
 Balsscallichirus masoomi. — Hyžný 2016: 43, fig. 3.   
 Callianassa (Callichirus) kewalramanii Sankolli, 1971: 94, fig. 5.   
 Material examined. Kuwait: 1 female, OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.036, Failaka Island, eastern side, 29°23.409’N 48°23.927’E, shallow subtidal partly exposed at low tide (0–0.3 m), muddy bottom close to rocky platform, suction (yabby) pump, in burrow, together with Salmoneus sp. nov., leg. A. Anker, 03.x.2019 [fcn KUW-067]; 1 male, OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.037, same collection details [fcn KUW-062]; 1 male, OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.038, same collection details [fcn KUW-075]; 1 male, OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.039, same collection details [fcn KUW-072]; 1 ov. female (pleon somewhat damaged), OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.040, Kuwait City, Ras Ajuzah, 29°23.656’N 47°59.840’E, sand-mud-rock intertidal and adjacent shallow subtidal (less than 0.3 m at low tide), muddy sand, suction (yabby) pump, in burrow, leg. A. Anker & M. Nithyanandan, 25.ix.2019 [fcn KUW-028]; 1 male, OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.041, same collection details [fcn KUW-026]; 1 female, MNHN-IU-2019-3184, Failaka Island, eastern side, shallow subtidal flat partly exposed at low tide (0–0.3 m), suction (yabby) pump, in burrow, leg. A. Anker, 12.ii.2020 [fcn FA-017]; 1 female (missing posterior part of pleon), KISR, Al-Shaab, rocky intertidal, low tide, leg. M. Al-Kandari et al., 19.i.2014.   
 General distribution. Northern Indian Ocean: India (near Mumbai), Pakistan (near Karachi) and the Arabian Gulf (Iran, Kuwait) (Sepahvand et al. 2013; present study).   
 Ecology. Intertidal and shallow subtidal; sandy or sandy-muddy bottoms, in burrows.   
 Remarks. Balsscallichirus masoomi appears to be the most common ghost shrimp in northern Kuwait (Kuwait City area, Failaka Island). Among the two callianassids presently known from Kuwait, B. masoomi can be recognised by the ventrally serrated carpus of the major cheliped (Fig. 12C) and the centrally convex posterior margin of the telson (Fig. 12D). The spacious burrows of B. masoomi occasionally host a small alpheid shrimp, Salmoneus ikaros, recently described based on a single specimen extracted from this ghost shrimp’s burrow (Anker et al. 2020).
description: Published as part of Al-Kandari, Manal, Anker, Arthur, Hussain, Sumaiah, Al-Yassen, Sharifa, Sattari, Zainab & Grave, Sammy De, 2020, New records of decapod crustaceans from Kuwait (Malacostraca: Decapoda), pp. 251-280 in Zootaxa 4803 (2) on pages 267-270, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4803.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/3909077