Abstract
Neopilumnoplax corallicola n. sp. is described from waters off Mauritania on the basis of two specimens collected during the Spanish-Mauritanian survey “Maurit-0911” from 488 m over a giant cold-water coral reef running from Cape Timiris to the Senegalese border. The new species is readily separated from its congeners by the shape of the front and anterolateral teeth, the low granulation on the dorsal carapace, and the morphology of the cheliped and ambulatory legs. This is the first record of the family from the Northeastern Atlantic and the second record of the genus in West Africa. A diagnosis of the family Mathildellidae with a key to genus level, as well as dichotomous and tabular keys to the world species of the genus Neopilumnoplax, are included.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their gratitude to the authorities of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO) and especially to Dr. Ana Ramos, cruise leader of the Maurit surveys, for her invaluable help in allowing access to the material described here and for her enthusiastic work onboard photographing recently hauled specimens. We also want to thank Alvaro García Herrero for his kind help with drawings of the new species. Our special thanks are extended to an anonymous reviewer and specially to Dr. Ng for his valuable comments and suggestions during the reviewing process which have resulted in a greatly improved manuscript.
This work was undertaken within the framework of the ECOAFRIK project and was partially funded by the ‘MAVA Fondation pour la nature’ (MAVA contract 12/87 AO C4/2012). The language reviewing was supported by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) through the project ‘Enhancing oceanography capacities in Western Africa countries 2013-2015’ financed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). This is ECOAFRIK publication number 16.
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Communicated by P. Martinez Arbizu
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De Matos-Pita, S.S., Ramil, F. New species of Neopilumnoplax Serène in Guinot, 1969 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Mathildellidae) from Northwest Africa with a key to the genus. Mar Biodiv 46, 253–260 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-015-0361-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-015-0361-5