Raoulserenea ornata ( Miers, 1880 )

Raoulserenea ornata ( Miers, 1880)

( Fig. 15 View FIGURE 15 )

Pseudosquilla ornata Miers, 1880: 4 , 111, pl. 3, figs. 5, 6 [type locality unknown, probably southwestern Pacific Ocean, by lectotype designation ( Ahyong 2014)].— Roxas & Estampador, 1930: 108–109, figs. 4, 5, pl. II.— Bigelow, 1931: 161.— Holthuis, 1941: 263–264, fig. 3.— Liu, 1975: 185, pl. 1: 1–5.— Manning, 1977a: 286.—Moosa 1984: 38.

Pseudosquilla ciliata .— Boone, 1934: 17, pl. 4 [Samoan specimen].

Raoulserenea pygmaea .— Caldwell & Manning, 2000: 101–106 View Cited Treatment [not R. pygmaea Caldwell & Manning, 2000 ].

Raoulserenea ornata .— Manning, 1995: 21, 116, 118, pl. 22, figs. 59b, 60c, d, f, 64.—Sun et al., 1998: 20, fig. 11.— Moosa, 2000: 427.—Ahyong, 2001: 122, fig. 60; 2002a: 369; 2005: 163; 2014: 251, fig. 1F–I.— Ahyong & Davie, 2002: 70.— Barber & Boyce, 2006: fig. 1.— Ahyong, 2014: 251–252, fig. 1F–I.—Ahyong & Caldwell, 2017: 612–613, fig. 2D.

Material examined. KZN: SAMC-A015620 , 1 ♀ (TL 43 mm), 27°31’00.1”S 32°40’59.9”E, Sodwana Bay, 27 Jul 1976, shallow intertidal, RW 19, coll GoogleMaps . R. Winterbottom, det. S. Ahyong.

Diagnosis. Cornea not distinctly broader than stalk, oblong in dorsal view. Rostral plate broader than long, without anterior spine, anterior margin obtusely angular to broadly rounded. Carapace dorsum uniformly coloured with pair of dark, circular ‘eyespots’ surrounded by pale ring. A2 scale clear, without dark spots. Raptorial claw propodus uniformly coloured, without pale spots and irregular lines. Thoracic and abdominal somites uniformly coloured, without distinctly reticulated colour pattern. AS 1–3 posterolaterally rounded. AS 4 posterolaterally angular. AS 5 with posterolateral spine. Uropodal exopod proximal segment outer margin with 9–11 movable spines.

Colour in alcohol. Body colouration mostly faded to pinkish grey. Carapace with pair of black ‘eyespots’, pale ring surrounding eyespots just visible. Raptorial claw carpus with dark spot on inner surface; with merus and propodus same as body colour, propodus distal spine and dactylus pink. Ahyong (2001) records a dark spot at the base of each pereopod of TS6–8. AS 4 with dark pink spot medially on lateral margin. AS 6 with SM spines dark pink, dark pink spot at base of LT carina; sternum with dark posterior margin. Telson with MD carina and all primary teeth pink posteriorly, dark patches interspersed marginally on denticles and MG carina. Uropodal protopod with dark pink patch sub-basally and on teeth, across proximal 0.50 of endopod and anterior 0.33 of proximal segment of exopod. Movable teeth of exopod dusky pink.

Colour in life. Body uniformly dark. Carapace with pair of black ‘eyespots’ surrounded by pale ring (see Ahyong & Caldwell 2017, for live colouration of French Polynesian specimen).

Measurements. ♀ (n = 1) TL 43 mm. CI 432. A1 peduncle 0.74CL. A2 scale 0.52CL. PI 095. PLDI 500. AWCLI 642.

Distribution and habitat. From South Africa [KZN] in the Western Indian Ocean to the Xisha Islands, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia and French Polynesia. Found among live coral and coral reef boulders in shallow water, shallow intertidal to at least 18 m (Ahyong 2001).

Remarks. Colour pattern is an important feature with which to distinguish the species of Raoulserenea ( Manning 1995; Ahyong 2001, 2005; Ahyong & Caldwell 2017). Most specimens of R. ornata exhibit a uniformly dark body with the distinctive paired ‘eyespots’ on the carapace surrounded by a pale ring. This is only visible on freshly preserved material. Raoulserenea ornata is most similar in colouration to the recently described R. moorea Ahyong & Caldwell, 2017 from Moorea, Society Islands, which is considered a dwarf species of Raoulserenea with maximum size recorded at TL 27 mm, versus R. ornata at TL 61 mm. The colour of the raptorial claw and the relative length of the intermediate teeth of the telson, as well as the shape of the rostral plate and eye, further distinguishes these two species (Ahyong & Caldwell 2017).

The present single female specimen of R. ornata from Sodwana Bay, KZN, has been previously examined and reported to have the same colour pattern described by Ahyong (2001) for specimens from Australia ( Ahyong 2005). The specimen agrees in all other features with the description of the lectotype of Raoulserenea ornata collected by the HMS Herald from the southwestern Pacific ( Ahyong 2014). At TL 43 mm, the specimen agrees well with previous accounts of the species exhibiting a rounded rostral plate (Ahyong 2001). The eye length is greater than 1.5 times its width and a distinct step is present on the inner margin of the uropodal protopod. The uropodal exopod has 11 movable spines on its outer margin. The pink colouration of the dactylus of the raptorial claw further identifies this specimen and distinguishes it from R. moorea which displays a light green raptorial claw (Ahyong & Caldwell 2017).