Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca Latreille, 1802
Order: Decapoda Latreille, 1802
Family: Munidopsidae Ortmann, 1898
Munidopsis kadal Tiwari, Padate, Cubelio & Osawa, 2022
Collection: Southeastern Arabian Sea, off Kerala – 10.99°N, 74.98°E, 1018 m, 17.06.2015 (FORVSS 341 leg I, St. 06), Naturalists dredge
Voucher No.: CMLRE IO/SS/ANO/00146
Description: Small galatheoid crab possessing carapace (excluding rostrum) dorsally uneven, covered with numerous granules and low small tubercles; epigastric bulges blunt, each bearing tuberculate ridge anteriorly; posterior cardiac region widely triangular; lateral margins subparallel, unarmed, each with rounded anterolateral angle. Rostrum narrow subtriangular, nearly horizontal, with dorsomedian granular ridge extending between epigastric bulges; basal width 0.4 times distance between anterolateral angles of carapace. Thoracic sternite 4 broad, 2.6 times wider than, and not contiguous to, sternite 3; anterolateral margins gently concave. Pleonal tergites unarmed, tergites 2–4 each with elevated transverse ridge anteriorly, tergites 2 and 3 with posterior transverse ridge. Antennular article 1 with 2 strong distal spines, ventrodistal spine larger than dorsodistal spine. Antennal peduncle overreaching distal corneal margin by 0.5 length of article 4, article 1 with small subacute ventromesial projection. Mxp3 with 2 ventral spines, dorsal margin distally with distinct spine. P1 slender, 3.3–3.4 times PCL, unarmed, with numerous coarse granules; fingers 0.9 length of palm, not gaping when closed, dactylus with low tooth proximally on cutting edge. Epipods absent from P1–4.
Biological association: None.
Remarks: New species of the genus Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1874 from Indian EEZ.
Distribution: Southeastern Arabian Sea, India (type locality). Depth range: 1018 m.
Distribution map:
Identified by: Shivam Tiwari
Publication: Tiwari S., Padate V.P., Cubelio S.S., Osawa M. (2022) Squat lobsters of the genera Raymunida Macpherson & Machordom, 2000 and Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1874 (Decapoda: Anomura: Galatheoidea) from the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone, with descriptions of three new species. Journal of Natural History, 56 (41–44): 1819–1839. DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2022.2138600
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