Abstract
Numerous specimens of squat lobsters belonging to the families Munididae, Munidopsidae and Eumunididae were collected during several cruises along the eastern coasts of Africa. The study of these specimens revealed the presence of 10 new species (one Eumunida Smith, 1883, eight Munida Leach, 1820 and one Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1874). We describe and illustrate these new species, providing some new data on occurrences and colour patterns for previously described taxa. We have also included molecular data from two mitochondrial markers (16S rRNA and COI) to support the taxonomic status of different species. Some deep-sea species show a clear increase in their geographic range distribution. Finally, a key to known species of the genus Munida from the western and central Indian Ocean is also presented.
Highlights
The western Indian Ocean is considered one of the “hot spots” in marine biodiversity of the world (Myers et al 2000)
The different families of squat lobsters are well represented in the western Indian Ocean (Schnabel et al 2011)
We studied numerous representatives of the families Eumunididae, Munididae and Munidopsidae collected during several expeditions carried out in Madagascar and Mozambique by the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN), and along the eastern coast of Africa by the P.P
Summary
The western Indian Ocean is considered one of the “hot spots” in marine biodiversity of the world (Myers et al 2000). From the Red Sea to South Africa and Madagascar, have studied the crustacean decapods of the area demonstrating the existence of a very rich fauna (Barnard 1950; Crosnier 1978; Ng & Kumar 2015), with a high proportion of endemic species (Spiridonov & Apel 2007; DiBattista et al 2016) Among these decapods, the squat lobsters (Chirostyloidea and Galatheoidea) are European Journal of Taxonomy 343: 1–61 (2017). Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1900, Munididae Ahyong et al, 2010 and Munidopsidae Ortmann, 1898, are represented by more than 150 species, mostly belonging to the genera Eumunida Smith, 1883, Munida Leach, 1820 and Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1874, respectively (e.g., Macpherson 2007; Baba et al 2008) In this area the studies on this group of organisms have been numerous since Alcock (1894, 1901) and Alcock & Anderson (1899) published their reports from the expeditions carried out by the R/V “Investigator”. Studies carried out along different zones of the eastern coast of Africa, e.g., Baba (1990), Tirmizi & Javed (1993), Macpherson & de Saint Laurent (2002) and Ahyong (2014), have confirmed the existence of a rich squat lobster fauna
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