A new species and new records of deep‐water Calappidae (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the Indian Ocean with a key to the<i>Mursia</i>Desmarest, 1823 species of the region

Abstract

Abstract Deep‐water Calappidae collected by German and Russian expeditions to the western Indian Ocean and additional material from several European and American museums were studied. Calappa japonica Ortmann, Citation1892 was recorded from the Red Sea for the first time, where it occurs in unusually deep waters and C. pustulosa Alcock, Citation1896 was recorded for the first time off Madagascar. Eight species of Mursia Desmarest, 1823 are known from the Indian Ocean (M. africana Galil, Citation1993, M. aspera Alcock, Citation1899, M. bicristimana Alcock and Anderson, Citation1894, M. coseli Crosnier, 1997, M. cristiata H. Milne Edwards, Citation1837, M. flamma Galil, Citation1993, M. curtispina Miers, Citation1886, and M. minuta n. sp.). For M. bicristimana the status was clarified and a new species described. This description is partly based on a specimen which prior to this study had been erroneously considered a syntype of M. bicristimana. New characters and a key are provided to facilitate identification of the Indian Ocean species of Mursia. The contrasting geographic distribution patterns of the two genera are discussed with regard to their vertical distribution. Keywords: Biogeography Calappa Calappidaedeep‐water faunaIndian Ocean Mursia Red Sea Acknowledgements Our gratitude is extended to all collectors, as well as to Paul Clark (NHM), Oliver Coleman (ZMB), Alain Crosnier and Daniel Guinot (MNHN), Charles Fransen (RMNH), Rafael Lemaitre (USNHM), Roland Melzer (ZSM), and Alexander Mironov (IORAS) who provided loans of important material. We especially thank Daniel Guinot and Bella Galil (Oceanographical Institute, Haifa) for communicating additional information regarding particular connections, Michael Türkay for discussing problems of biogeography of the Indian Ocean, and to Andreas Allspach, Kristin Pietratus, and Frank Mause for their assistance while we were working with the SMF collection and library. Review and comments by Paul Clark and an anonymous referee are greatly acknowledged. The research visits of the first author to Frankfurt am Main in the years 2001–2004 were supported by the guest grants of the Senckenberg Research Institute. This study was part of the scientific co‐operation project “Deep Sea Decapod Crustaceans of the Western Indian Ocean” (WTZ RUS‐106‐96) supported by the Ministry for Research and Technology of the Federal Republic of Germany and the project “Ecology of the Decapoda Brachyura” supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR grant no. 06‐05‐65284).