Abstract
Abstract Mursia spiridonovi Karasawa, 2018 known only from the western Indian Ocean, is the smallest species of the genus, measuring only 18 mm in carapace length. The species is redescribed from fresh material collected in Tamil Nadu in southern India. It is compared with similarly sized specimens of M. bicristimana Alcock and Anderson, 1894, all of which are immature. Mursia spiridonovi is characterised not only by its occurrence in shallow waters (less than 300 m depth) and small adult size but also by the prominently granular carapace and structure of the cheliped merus, male pleonal somites and gonopods.
Highlights
Three species have been known from India: M. bicristimana Alcock and Anderson, 1894, M. curtispina Miers, 1886, and M. spiridonovi Karasawa, 2018 (Trivedi et al, 2018)
The taxonomy of the Indian species has been constantly changing over the last few decades, with most of the problems associated with the poorly known M. bicristimana
Kumar et al (2013) examined fresh material from Kerala in India and clarified the identity of M. bicristimana s. str., and decided that Spiridonov and Apel’s (2007) material of “M. bicristimana” from the Arabian Sea should be referred to a new species, M. arabica instead
Summary
The Indo-West Pacific calappid genus Mursia Desmarest, 1823, currently contains 30 species (Galil, 1993; 2001; 2013; Crosnier, 1997; Galil and Spiridonov, 1998; Galil and Takeda, 2004; Takeda and Galil, 2005; Spiridonov and Apel, 2007; Ng et al, 2008; Galil and Ng, 2009; Kumar et al, 2013; Karasawa, 2018).
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