Two new species of crayfish of the genus Cherax from Indonesian New Guinea (Crustacea, Decapoda, Parastacidae).

Christian Lukhaup,Rury Eprilurahman,Thomas Von Rintelen

doi:10.3897/zookeys.769.26095

Christian Lukhaup, Rury Eprilurahman + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.769.26095

Copy DOI

Abstract

Two new species of the genus Cherax are described and illustrated. Cherax mosessalossa sp. n., endemic to the Klademak Creek drainage in Sorong, in the western part of the Kepala Burung (Vogelkop) peninsula, West Papua, Indonesia, is described, figured and compared with its closest relatives, Cherax misolicus Holthuis, 1949 and Cherax warsamsonicus. The new species may be easily distinguished from both by the shape of the rostrum, the shape of the chelae, the presence of five cervical spines, the shape of the scaphocerite, and short scattered hairs on the carapace. Cherax alyciae sp. n., endemic to creeks in the Digul River drainage in the eastern part of the Boven Digoel Regency, Papua, Indonesia, is described, figured, and compared with its closest relative, Cherax peknyi Lukhaup & Herbert, 2008. The new species may be easily distinguished from Cherax peknyi by the shape of the chelae, presence of a soft patch on the chelae of the males, and colouration. A molecular phylogeny based on two mitochondrial gene fragments, 16S and COI, supports the morphology-based description of the two new species, which can also be clearly distinguished by sequence differences.

Highlights

The crayfishes of the island of New Guinea were extensively studied by Holthuis (1949, 1956, 1958, 1982, 1986, 1996), with additions by Lukhaup and Pekny (2006, 2008a), Lukhaup and Herbert (2008), Lukhaup (2015), Lukhaup et al (2015), Patoka et al (2015), Lukhaup et al (2017) and Patoka et al (2017).In January 2016 the first author visited Sorong Regency and South Sorong Regency, West Papua, Indonesia, to clarify the distribution of some crayfish species present in the pet trade
Cherax mosessalossa sp. n. may be distinguished from both by using sequence divergence, by colouration and pattern of live individuals, by the shape of the chelae, the shape of rostrum, and presence of setae on the carapace in C. mosessalossa which is absent in C. misolicus and C. warsamsonicus
Cherax alyciae sp. n. may be distinguished from Cherax peknyi by colouration and pattern of live individuals, by the shape of the chelae and a soft patch present on the chelae of the males, the shape of rostrum, fewer setae on the ventral side of the chelae, and by using sequence divergence

Summary

Introduction

The crayfishes of the island of New Guinea were extensively studied by Holthuis (1949, 1956, 1958, 1982, 1986, 1996), with additions by Lukhaup and Pekny (2006, 2008a), Lukhaup and Herbert (2008), Lukhaup (2015), Lukhaup et al (2015), Patoka et al (2015), Lukhaup et al (2017) and Patoka et al (2017).In January 2016 the first author visited Sorong Regency and South Sorong Regency, West Papua, Indonesia, to clarify the distribution of some crayfish species present in the pet trade. N. may be distinguished from Cherax peknyi by colouration and pattern of live individuals, by the shape of the chelae and a soft patch present on the chelae of the males, the shape of rostrum, fewer setae on the ventral side of the chelae, and by using sequence divergence. Holotype: male (MZB Cru 4675), under rocks and among roots along banks of Klademak Creek, Sorong City, 0°52'23.59"S, 131°16'24.40"E, West Papua, Indonesia, coll.

Results

Conclusion