Species of the genus Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1784 from the Indian and Pacific Oceans and reestablishment of the genus Galacantha A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Galatheidae).

Abstract

Sixty-six species of the genus Munidopsis have been studied using specimens collected during numerous French expeditions carried out in the last decades in the deep-waters of the southwest Indian and southwest Pacific Oceans, between 140 and 4400 m. Twenty-five new species are described, and the diagnoses and illustrations of some relatively rare species (M. africana, M. debilis, M. lenzii, M. moresbyi, M. orcina, M. sinclairi, M. stylirostris and M. wardeni) are provided. The reestablishment of the genus Galacantha is proposed, including the descriptions/diagnoses and a key to all species. The genus contains nine species, including three new species (G. bellis, G. diomedeae, G. quiquei n. sp., G. rostrata, G. spinosa, G. subrostrata n. sp., G. subspinosa n. sp., G. trachynotus and G. valdiviae). The number of species collected by station is very small (usually one species), probably related to their low densities. However, in some samples, as many as five species have been found. The highest number of species have been observed in the Banda Sea (Indonesia) and Solomon Islands. The new records of some species greatly extend the previously known distribution range of the species.