Clorida latreillei Eydoux & Souleyet, 1842

Clorida latreillei Eydoux & Souleyet, 1842

( Fig. 21 View FIGURE 21 )

Clorida latreillei Eydoux & Souleyet, 1842: 265 , pI. 5: figs. 2–5 [type locality Pattani, Gulf of Thailand by neotype selection ( Ahyong & Naiyanetr, 2000)].

Squilla latreillei .— Wood-Mason, 1895: 6, pI. 4: figs. 6–13.— Kemp 1913: 24–27, pI. 1: figs. 1–4.— Barnard 1950: 845, fig. 1e.

Clorida latreillei .— Manning, 1969a: 7–8.— Moosa, 1975: 11.—Manning, 1990: 100; 1991: 9–10, fig. 9.— Naiyanetr, 1980: 19–21, 42, figs. 13a–d. – Tirmizi et al., 1994: 136, fig. 10.— Naiyanetr, 1998: 126.— Ahyong & Naiyanetr, 2000: 314–317, fig. 1.— Liu, 2008: [list].

Material examined. KZN: SAMC-A019336 , 1 ♀ (TL 78 mm), Durban Bay, 29°53’05.3”S 31°00’00.6”E, 20 Aug 1946, depth unknown, dredge, stat. NA 176C GoogleMaps , UCT Ecological Survey, det. R. B. Manning .

Diagnosis. A1 somite dorsal processes with short, triangular apices. Carapace with anterolateral spines. Raptorial claw dactylus with 5 teeth; outer, proximal margin with basal notch. Mandibular palp 3-segmented. TS8 with SM carinae. TS5 lateral process short, triangular, with apex spiniform, slightly inclined anterolaterally; with small ventral spinule. TS6–7 lateral processes lacking posterolateral spine. AS 1–5 each with SM carinae. Telson with margin of IM teeth crenulate; dorsolateral surface with widely-spaced rows of low, course tubercles coarse in females. Telson ventral surface with short postanal carina, not extending posteriorly to mid-length between anal pore and posterior margin.

Measurements. ♀ (n = 1) TL 78 mm. CL 14 mm. Anterior carapace width 0.57CL. A1 peduncle 1.2CL. A2 scale 0.43CL. This is the largest recorded specimen of C. latreillei .

Colour in alcohol. Overall dorsal and ventral colour chestnut brown. Brown to black on propodus of raptorial claw and margins of carapace, as well as medially on AS 1–2 and 5. Dactylus pale yellow to white. Raptorial claw with yellow band on dorsal distal margin of meral depression.

Colour in Life (after Ahyong 2000). Overall dorsal colour pale green, ventral surface translucent white. Carapace with dark brown outline; with diffuse, dark brown patch medially. TS6–8 and AS 1–6 with black-brown posterior margin. Uropodal exopod proximal segment with dark brown patch distally; distal segment with dark diffuse infusion in inner proximal quarter.

Distribution and habitat. South Africa, Mozambique, India and Pakistan to Gulf of Thailand and southwestern Indonesia. Associated with coarse sand and mud substrata in shallow water.

Remarks. Prior to this study, C. latreillei was the only species of the genus known from South Africa, recorded from the nearshore ( 38 m) off Durban ( Manning 1969a; Day & Morgan 1956). However, more detailed examination of the present material revealed that within samples previously identified as C. latreillei there were several specimens of a potentially undescribed species of Clorida (see Clorida sp. ). To address the generally poor early documentation of the species, Ahyong & Naiyanetr (2000) revised the ‘ C. latreillei complex’ and designated a neotype from newly collected material from the Gulf of Thailand. Clorida latreillei most closely resembles the more recently described C. albolitura . In live specimens, C. latreillei can be distinguished from C. albolitura by the absence of a large white patch on the median carina of the telson and is morphologically distinguished by the long postanal carina of the telson.

The large specimen examined herein agrees in most respects with the recent description of C.latreillei .The present specimen has the intermediate teeth of the telson with a crenulate margin. Ahyong & Naiyanetr (2000) identified this feature as usually smooth and occasionally crenulate for both the intermediate and lateral teeth margins. Some feature variation is known for AS 1–5 marginal carinae spination, raptorial claw teeth number of dactylus (usually 5, but occasionally 4) and the distinctness of the TS5 ventral spinule, which can often be an indistinct tubercle. Unfortunately, no male was available for examination, but sexual dimorphism has been previously recorded in large males with rounded and inflated instead of course tubercles for the telson dorsolateral surface (Ahyong 2000).

Although morphologically identifiable as C. latrellei , the present material differs in overall colouration compared with the described neotype. The preserved specimen’s overall colour is recognisable as brown, which differs from the pale green in life described for the neotype. Preservational effects notwithstanding, Barnard’s (1950) account of a Mozambican specimen of C. latreillei agrees with the present study, describing his specimen from Maputo Bay as ‘brownish or pinkish’ ( Barnard 1950). This difference in colour morphology might prove important pending further investigation.