Kasagia sudhakari Padate, Manjebrayakath & Ng 2019
Creators: name: Forges, Bertrand Richer De
name: Lee, Bee Yan
name: Ng, Peter K. L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Majidae
Kasagia
Kasagia sudhakari

description: Kasagia sudhakari Padate, Manjebrayakath & Ng, 2019
(Figures 1E, 15D, E, 16D, E, 17C, D, 19, 20D, E)
Kasagia sudhakari Padate, Manjebrayakath & Ng, 2019: 291–295, figs. 2A–G, 3A–D, 4.
Material examined. 1 male (cl 8.7 mm, pcl 7.0 mm, cw 5.6 mm, bcw 5.1 mm), 1 ovigerous female (cl 8.1 mm, pcl 6.5 mm, cw 5.2 mm, bcw 4.9 mm) (MNHN-IU-2017-8791), stn CP3131, Mozambique Channel, 2554’S 3359’E, 193–194 m, coll. MAINBAZA, 9 April 2009.
Diagnosis. Postfrontal region relatively short (Fig. 16D, E); granules on posterior dorsal half of carapace closely packed (Fig. 16D, E). Base of pseudorostral spines separated from supraorbital eave by distinct gap (Fig. 16D, E). Supraocular eave eave relatively less raised, less strongly carinate, separated from pseudorostral spine by a distinct cleft (Fig. 16D, E). Hepatic spine triangular, distinctly dentiform, slightly larger than postocular spine, directed outwards (Fig. 16D, E); branchial margin of carapace with 4 short acuminate spines, even in adults (Fig. 16D, E). Basal antennal article enlarged proximally, forming broad triangular tooth basally, with deep median longitudinal groove, margins carinate but not strongly raised (Figs. 17D, 19B). Epistome forming 3 lobes. Buccal cavity wider anteriorly; ischium of third maxilliped with longitudinal row of small granules (Figs. 17D, 19C). Anterior part of the male thoracic sternum wide, smooth. Male pleon narrow, with long triangular telson. Chelipeds long, spiny; merus longer than carapace with large spines on each margin; carpus long with distal spine, distal part wider; chela long with up to 5 spines on outer border (Fig. 15D); fingers long slender. Ambulatory legs short, with dorsal margin of merus carinate, with small spinules in smaller specimens. G1 gently curved to almost straight (Fig. 20D, E).
Type locality. Arabian Sea, off Cape Comorin, India.
Remarks. Kasagia sudhakari, from the western Indian Ocean, can be distinguished from K. elegans comb. nov. in having the supraorbital eave relatively less raised and carinate (Fig. 16D, E) (versus distinctly more swollen and carinate in K. elegans comb. nov., Fig. 16A–C); the hepatic spine being distinctly dentiform (Fig. 16D, E) (versus auriculiform and lobiform in K. elegans, Fig. 16A–C); the lateral branchial spines are acuminate even in adults (Fig. 16D, E; Padate et al. 2019: fig. 2B) (versus fungiform in adult K. elegans comb. nov., Fig. 16D, E); and the G1 is gently curved to almost straight (Fig. 20D, E; Padate et al. 2019: fig. 3A, B) (versus more sinuous in K. elegans comb. nov., Fig. 20A, B). In the above characters, K. elegans comb. nov. is actually morphologically closer to K. arbastoi from the Philippines, but in the latter species, the supraorbital eave is even more prominently raised, with the distal part appressed against the base of the pseudorostral spine (Fig. 16F; Padate et al. 2019: fig. 5A, B) (versus less raised, separated from pseudorostral spine by a distinct gap in K. elegans comb. nov., Fig. 16A–C), the postfrontal region is relatively longer (Fig. 16F; Padate et al. 2019: fig. 5A, B) (versus relatively shorter in K. elegans comb. nov., Fig. 16A–C), and the granules on the posterior dorsal half of the carapace are more widely spaced (Fig. 16F; Padate et al. 2019: fig. 5A, B) (versus granules closely packed in K. elegans comb. nov., Fig. 16A–C).
description: Published as part of Forges, Bertrand Richer De, Lee, Bee Yan & Ng, Peter K. L., 2021, The taxonomy of spider crabs of the genera Eurynome, Choniognathus, Seiitaiodes and Kasagia (Crustacea: Brachyura: Majidae) from southwest Indian Ocean, pp. 301-333 in Zootaxa 5048 (3) on pages 328-329, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5048.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5556341