Decapoda - Anomura - Porcellanidae - Enosteoides
| Enosteoides melissa (Miyake, 1942) |
World Distribution
Osawa (2009: 165, Bulletin Nat. Mus. Sci.) - Zanzibar, Madagascar, Seychelles, Philippine Islands, Palau, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands; littoral to depth of 110 m; sand and corals (Haig, 1981, 1989; Osawa, 2007). The present specimen from Iriomote Island was collected from the intertidal zone, inhabiting under a coral rock on sea grass bed.
Environnement : Marine - Substrat/Association : Hard bottom (rock and rubbles)
Vertical range : Shallow-waters (0-100 m) - Min-Max observed: 20-110 m
New Caledonia data
Musorstom 6 Nouvelle Caledonie, DW430 — Haig J, Musorstom 5, 144: 93-101
Corail 2 Nouvelle Caledonie, DW69 — Haig J, Musorstom 5, 144: 93-101.
Comment in Anker & Benzoni (2023, Zootaxa: 95, fig. 12) - Osawa (2007) reported two male specimens identified as E. melissa from a depth of 38 m off New Caledonia and 20–30 m off Loyalty Islands, respectively. As noted by the author, these specimens presented several important differences from the type specimen, including a comparatively wider carapace (Osawa 2007: fig. 3A); the noticeably stouter first ambulatory legs (idem.: fig. 3C); and, in the New Caledonian specimen only, the absence of a fringe of plumose setae and a row of small sharp teeth and denticles on the extensor surface of the chelae (idem.: Fig. 3B). Importantly, two of these features (slightly wider carapace and absence of setal fringe on the chelae) are also observed in E. habibi sp. Nov. From the Red Sea. Whatever the identity of Osawa’s (2007) specimens of E. melissa might be, they appear to be subtly different from the Red Sea species in the dorsal ornamentation of the carapace and the relative width of the merus of the second pereiopod (cf. Fig. 6A, J; Osawa 2007: 3A, C). On the other hand, the afore-mentioned New Caledonian specimen (Fig. 12) is generally similar to the specimen from Okinawa illustrated by Osawa (2016) and to the material of E. melissa reported by Miyake (1942) and Nakasone & Miyake (1968). For the time being, the New Caledonian and Loyalty Islands material from below 20 m reported by Osawa (2007) is tentatively considered as not conspecific with the present new species, despite many similarities. However, a molecular analysis of all the material currently assigned to E. melissa from various localities of the Indo-West Pacific and from different habitats / depths is highly desirable.
Anker & Benzoni (2023, fig. 12) - Enosteoides melissa (Miyake, 1942), male (cl 10.0 mm, cw 9.5 mm) from Pouébo, New Caledonia, MNHN-IU-2018-1015, porcelain crab in life, dorsal; specimen collected from burrow of Alpheus rapax Fabricius, 1798. Photograph: A. Anker.
Other data
Musorstom 2 Philippines, DR73 — Haig J, Musorstom 5, 144: 93-101
Musorstom 2 Philippines, CP28 — Haig J, Musorstom 5, 144: 93-101
References : PDF list, 214 pp (1.4 Mo)This species in Worms Database