Discoveries

Crustacean update 2011

Updates

Identifications of the crustacean material collected during the 2009 Woodside Collection Project (Kimberley) expedition have been completed, but are still ongoing for the 2010 Kimberley expedition. Over 250 species and morphospecies have been identified to date, representing ten orders of Crustacea. Over 74 species of crabs have been identified making them the most speciose group, followed by barnacles (60 species) and shrimp (40 species). Of these, 60 species were previously unrecorded from the Kimberley. There were 20 undescribed species, including new species of amphipods (sand hoppers), isopods (marine slaters), cumaceans (comma shrimp), decapods (lobster shrimp, shrimp, porcelain crabs) and barnacles.

The identification of such a diverse range of Crustacea could not have been accomplished without the collaboration of taxonomists from around the world including, Museum Victoria, Queensland Museum, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Australian Museum, University of Geissen (Germany), Natural History Museum of Chiba (Japan), University of Alaska (USA), Smithsonian Institution (USA) and the Western Washington University (USA).

Scytoleptus sp. nov.: This undescribed green ghost shrimp, Scytoleptus sp. nov., is abundant on the intertidal reefs around Cassini Island and Montgomery Reef. This species is not new to science, having been collected before, but it has long been confused with a South African species.

Image copyright of the WA Museum

Cryptocoeloma tuberculata Mires, 1880: This is the first record of this species of decorator crab in Western Australia. Cryptocoeloma tuberculata places sea anemones on its back for camouflage and to deter predators such as octopus.

Image copyright of the WA Museum

Nannastacidae (Family): This undescribed crustacean belongs to the order commonly known as comma shrimps (Cumacea). They are tiny, being less than 1 cm long, and are normally found living among the sand grains on the sea floor. Presently, no cumacean species have been formally reported from the Kimberley region.

Image copyright of the WA Museum

Ancylomenes holthuisi (Bruce, 1969): This anemone shrimp is never found far from its host. It is an Indo-Pacific species and known to occur on the Great Barrier Reef and in the waters around Darwin. It was first recorded in WA from the Dampier Archipelago in 2008.

Image copyright of the WA Museum

Pilodius cephalagicus Clark & Galil, 1993: This is the first Australian record of Pilodius cepahalalgicus. Previously this species was recorded only from the Malay Peninsula. This small crab was found amongst coral rubble on Long Reef. A small piece of trivia associated with this species is that the name literally means ‘headache’ and is a reference to the troubles the authors had revising the genus, Pilodius.

Image copyright of the WA Museum

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 

•