The availability of abundant fresh material of Aristeus alcocki Ramadan, 1938 from India allowed the evaluation of the variation in the numbers of photophores on the pereiopods in this species, as well as other diagnostic characters for species discrimination. Although the pereiopodal photophore counts in A. alcocki largely overlap with those of A. semidentatus Bate, 1888, it is found that A. alcocki is unique in the Indo-West Pacific species of the genus by the lower end of the cervical carina considerably farther away from the branchiostegal carina. Molecular genetic analysis confirmed the distinct taxonomic status of the six currently known species in this genus from the Indo-West Pacific and a revised key is provided for distinguishing them.

KARUBAR

The availability of Indian specimens of Plesionika persica (Kemp, 1925) and P. reflexa Chace, 1985 provided more information on the taxonomy around these two species. Moreover, it is the first record of P. persica to India. Although P. taiwanica Chan and Yu, 2000 is superficially rather similar to P. persica, there are many differences between them and probably it is inappropriate to establish a species group for these two species. It is likely that all previous records of P. ensis (A. Milne-Edwards, 1881) from India actually represent P. reflexa Chace, 1985. Nevertheless, the present Indian specimens of P. reflexa have more than 10% COI sequence divergence from the topotypic materials of both P. ensis and P. reflexa, and the epipods at the pereiopods III and IV reduced or absent. This data further highlights the confusing taxonomy in the “P. ensis” group.

AURORA 2007, KARUBENTHOS 2

A new species of slipper lobster, Petrarctus holthuisi, new species, is found from the recent expeditions to the Philippines and Vanuatu. The new species resembles P. rugosus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) but has a different colouration and several morphological differences. Comparisons of the partial sequence of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) show high degree of divergence (12.5-22.3%) among all the species of Petrarctus. The molecular genetic analysis also suggests that the recent separation of Scyllarus sensu Into may need to be revised. A key to all Petrarctus species is provided.

AURORA 2007, PANGLAO 2004, PANGLAO 2005, SANTO 2006

The widely distributed deep-sea caridean shrimp Heterocarpus gibbosus Bate, 1888 was previously believed to exhibit considerable variations in the development of the basal rostral crest. Based on the comparison of abundant material from the western Pacific, combined with a molecular genetic analysis using partial sequences of the mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA genes, three distinct species could be recognized. The true H. gibbosus has a moderately high basal rostral crest and appears to have a more eastern distribution from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. Both forms with a very low or very high basal rostral crest are currently undescribed and mainly distributed along the western coast of the Pacific from Japan to Fiji. The low basal rostral crest form, H. abulbus sp. nov., is unique in the genus by lacking a distinct abdominal boss and appears to be restricted to Japan, Taiwan and NE Philippines. The very high basal rostral crest form, H. corona sp. nov., occurs in the western Pacific down to NW Australia.

AURORA 2007, CORINDON 2, MUSORSTOM 10, PANGLAO 2004, PANGLAO 2005, SALOMON 1, SANTO 2006

Material previously identified as Galearctus kitanoviriosus (Harada, 1962) from New Caledonia has been found to consist of two distinct species. These species differ in the shape of the gastric tooth, third pereiopod propodus, antennal segment IV and thoracic sternum. The shallow water form is the true G. kitanoviriosus, while the deep-water form is new to science. Genetic comparison of the sequence of the barcoding gene, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit (COI), also supports the separation.

BATHUS 1, BERYX 11, HALICAL 1, HALIPRO 1, SMIB 3, VAUBAN 1978-1979, VOLSMAR

The slipper lobster Chelarctus cultrifer (Ortmann, 1897), a putatively wide-spread Indo-West Pacific species, is well-known in Japan. However, recent collections from Taiwan and the Philippines, and comparisons with material from Indonesia and elsewhere revealed that there are actually two species confused under this name. The two species differ markedly in morphology and colour. On the basis of the lectotype designation of C. cultrifer by Holthuis (2002, from Indonesia), the material from Taiwan and Japan is shown to be actually undescribed and is named herein. Chelarctus cultrifer sensu stricto is restricted to the material from the more southern localities in the Philippines westwards to Iles Glorieuses. Genetic comparison of sequences of the barcoding gene, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit (COI), supported the species separation. The molecular data further suggested that two genetic forms are present within C. cultrifer sensu stricto, and therefore, the subspecific name C. cultrifer meridionalis (Holthuis, 1960) is resurrected.

BENTHEDI, KARUBAR, MUSORSTOM 1, MUSORSTOM 2, MUSORSTOM 3, PANGLAO 2004, PANGLAO 2005

The slipper lobsters belong to the family Scyllaridae which contains a total of 20 genera and 89 species distributed across four subfamilies (Arctidinae, Ibacinae, Scyllarinae, and Theninae). We have collected nucleotide sequence data from regions of five different genes (16S, 18S, COI, 28S, H3) to estimate phylogenetic relationships among 54 species from the Scyllaridae with a focus on the species rich subfamily Scyllarinae. We have included in our analyses at least one representative from all 20 genera in the Scyllaridae and 35 of the 52 species within the Scyllarinae. Our resulting phylogenetic estimate shows the subfamilies are monophyletic, except for Ibacinae, which has paraphyletic relationships among genera. Many of the genera within the Scyllarinae form non-monophyletic groups, while the genera from all other subfamilies form well supported clades. We discuss the implications of this history on the evolution of morphological characters and ecological transitions (nearshore vs. offshore) within the slipper lobsters. Finally, we identify, through ancestral state character reconstructions, key morphological features diagnostic of the major clades of diversity within the Scyllaridae and relate this character evolution to current taxonomy and classification. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

BENTHAUS, BERYX 11

The commercial deep-sea penaeid shrimp genus Parapenaeus contains 15 species, three subspecies and two forms in the Indo-West Pacific and the Atlantic. Novel nucleotide sequence data from five different genes (COI, 16S, 12S, NaK and PEPCK) were collected to estimate phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic status amongst all but one subspecies in this genus. The phylogenetic results only support two of the four species groups previously proposed for this genus and indicate an evolution direction of the genital organs from simple to complex. The present results suggest that Parapenaeus originated in the shallow waters of the West Pacific with subsequent migration to the deep sea and the Atlantic. The molecular data reveal that there was probably misidentification of females between Parapenaeus australiensis and Parapenaeus ruberoculatus, with females previously assigned as P. australiensis likely being the females of P. ruberoculatus, while material identified as P. australiensis forma nodosa being the true P. australiensis females. On the other hand, Parapenaeus longipes forma denticulata truly represents a variation of the same species, while the subspecies Parapenaeus fissuroides indicus warrants a specific rank.

ATIMO VATAE, BORDAU 2, KARUBENTHOS 2012, MAINBAZA, MUSORSTOM 1, MUSORSTOM 10, PAPUA NIUGINI

The availability of fresh specimens of the commercial, deep-sea pandalid shrimp, Heterocarpus woodmasoni Alcock, 1901, from India revealed that material referred to this species from India and the western Pacific Ocean have distinct differences in coloration, morphology, and genetic divergence. Although the syntypes of H. woodmasoni cannot be located now, a color photograph of a typotypic specimen from the Andaman Sea allowed the determination of the Indian form as the true H. woodmasoni. To stabilize the taxonomy in the “H. woodmasoni” species group, a neotype is selected for H. woodmasoni from an Indian specimen with both coloration and molecular barcoding information. The western Pacific form is described as a new species, Heterocarpus fascirostratus sp. nov., which differs from H. woodmasoni in having a banded rostrum, eggs reddish brown instead of greenish brown, lacking rostral crest, armed usually with fewer dorsolateral spines on the telson, the overhanging spine on the abdominal somite III not markedly recurved downwards, and a rather straight postantennal carina.

AURORA 2007, BIOPAPUA, BORDAU 1, MADEEP, MAINBAZA, PANGLAO 2005, SALOMON 1, TAIWAN 2000