Squat lobsters (Crustacea: Anomura) from Mauritanian waters (West Africa), with the description of a new species of Munidopsis

This paper is the result of the study of a squat lobsters collection obtained along the Mauritanian coast, between 91 and 1867 m depth, during the ‘MAURIT’ surveys carried out in the period from 2007 to 2010. Eumunida bella de Saint Laurent & Macpherson, 1990 (Chirostyloidea) and six species of Munida and Munidopsis (Galatheoidea) are reported in the present work. A new species, Munidopsis anaramosae n. sp. collected off northwestern Banc d’Arguin at 1000–1012 m depth, is described and illustrated. The presence of an eyespine that arises distally from the middle end of the cornea, walking legs merus spinose on dorsal and ventral margins and cheliped merus ventrally unarmed distinguish it from related species. Munida chunii Balss, 1913 is redescribed here and the new records of Munida guineae Miyake & Baba, 1970, M. speciosa von Martens, 1878 and Munidopsis chunii Balss, 1913 extend their geographical distribution northwards, and in the case of the last species, increase its bathymetric range.

The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude to the authorities of Instituto Español de Oceanografía that made possible our participation in ‘MAURIT’ surveys and carry out the study of this material. We are grateful to all people, both scientific and crew, for their collaboration in the field works on board R/V Vizconde de Eza. We want to thank Mrs. Sara Castillo Oñate for her help in drawing some of the figures. Finally, we are especially grateful to Dr. Enrique Macpherson for his guide, support, suggestions and constructive reviews of the manuscript. This work was undertaken in the framework of the ECOAFRIK project and was partially funded by the Galician government (Project Ref. 10MMA602020PR) and by the MAVA FOUNDATION POUR LA NATURE (MAVA contract 12/87 AO C4/2012). This is ECOAFRIK publication number 4.

Peer reviewed