On a new genus and species of eumedonid crab from the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Eumedonidae)

Abstract

A new genus and species of eumedonid crab from the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia, Zebridonus mirabilis, is described. Zebridonus gen. nov. is allied to Eumedonus H. Milne Edwards, 1834, Gonatonotus White, 1847, and Zebrida White, 1847, but differs from Eumedonus and Gonatonotus in the following aspects: (1) the lateral lobes of the carapace are sublamelliform and upturned; (2) presence of two sublamelliform teeth on the chelipedal carpus; (3) presence of a sharp spine at the distal end of the anterior margin of the ambulatory merus; (4) the thoracic sternum is flatter and smoother; and (5) having a proportionately broader abdomen. Zebridonus differs from Zebrida White, 1847, in having fewer spines on the chelipedal carpus, absence of a subcheliform process formed by the ambulatory dactylus and propodus, the posterior margin of the epistome is lower, the rostrum is not as deeply clefted and the orbit is straight instead of oblique.

Keywords :

• Zebridonus mirabilis
• n. gen. n. sp.
• taxonomy
• Crustacea
• Decapoda
• Brachyura
• Eumedonidae
• Australia