PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 113(4):926-930. 2000. Redescription of Squilla fabricii Holthuis, 1941 (Crustacea: Stomatopoda), and its transfer to Oratosquilla Manning, 1968 Shane T. Ahyong Department of Marine Invertebrates, Australian Museum, 6 College St., Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia, Email:
[email protected] Abstract. — The holotype of Squilla fabricii Holthuis, is redescribed and transferred from Oratosquillina Manning to Oratosquilla Manning. Addition-ally, O. fabricii is shown to be a senior synonym of O. calumnia (Townsley). Characters previously used to distinguish O. fabricii (as O. calumnia) from O. mauritiana, namely the spination of the first abdominal somite and the shape of the anterior lobe on the lateral process of the seventh thoracic somite are, unreliable. The best character distinguishing O. fabricii from O. mauritiana is the pitted versus smooth dorsal integument. A key to species of Oratosquilla is provided. Since it was first described from Indo-nesia, Squilla fabricii Holthuis, 1941, pres-ently known as Oratosquillina fabricii (Holthuis 1941), has been reported only by Stephenson (1962). The specimen reported by Stephenson (1962) as Squilla fabricii, however, was shown by Ahyong & Nor-rington (1997) to be a superficially similar species, Oratosquillina asiatica (Manning 1978). Reexamination of the holotype of Ora-tosquillina fabricii shows not only that it belongs in the genus Oratosquilla, but also that it is a senior synonym of Oratosquilla calumnia (Townsley 1953), a species with a wide Pacific distribution. The confusion over the identity and generic placement of Oratosquilla fabricii is largely the result of an error in the type description which attri-buted an interrupted instead of uninterrupt-ed anterior bifurcation to the median carina of the carapace (Holthuis 1941). The con-dition of the anterior bifurcation of the me-dian carina of the carapace, whether inter-rupted or uninterrupted basally, is an im-portant character distinguishing species groups and genera among squilloids (Man-ning 1971, 1978, 1995). Consequently, Or-atosquilla fabricii has always been associ-ated with the species in the 'perpensa' and 'gonypetes' groups of Oratosquilla (see Manning 1978), each of which were sub-sequently transferred to the genus Oratos-quillina Manning, 1995. Thus, the conspe-cificity of O. fabricii and O. calumnia has likely escaped detection until now because both have been placed in different species groups or genera. All published records of Oratosquilla calumnia are now referable to O. fabricii. Four species of Oratosquilla are recognized here: O. fabricii (Holthuis 1941), O. kempi (Schmitt 1931), O. maur-itiana (Kemp 1913), and O. oratoria (de Haan 1844). Several major studies of Indo-West Pacif-ic stomatopods are presently in progress, each of which includes material of, or refer to O. fabricii. Rather than await completion of those works to correct the nomenclature, however, the present note serves to clarify the taxonomic status of both species in order to simplify the nomenclatural discussion in forthcoming works and to minimize perpet-uation of errors in the taxonomic literature. The holotype of O. fabricii is deposited in the Zoological Museum, Amsterdam (ZMA). All measurements are in millimeters (mm). Total length (TL) is measured along
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