PROC. BIOL. SOC. WASH. 104(1), 1991, pp. 49-54 UPOGEBIA SPINISTIPULA, A NEW BURROWING SHRIMP FROM THE FLORIDA SHELF, NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO (DECAPODA: THALASSINIDEA: UPOGEBIIDAE) Austin B. Williams and Richard W. Heard Abstract. — Upogebia spinistipula, a new species of burrowing thalassinidean shrimp was taken in box core samples of live bottom material from a sector of the continental shelf in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico that lies off Panama City to Cape Romano, Florida. The rostrum of the small species (carapace length ca. 1 mm) resembles that of U. lepta from the tropical eastern Pacific, the tail fan resembles that of most species of Upogebia in the western hemi- sphere having an essentially rectangular telson, and the ventrally spined an- tennular and antennal peduncles resemble those of west Pacific species in the recently described genus Gebiacantha. The species apparently has no close relatives in the western Atlantic. An undescribed species of Upogebia Leach, [1814] was discovered in box core samples taken on the continental shelf (car- bonate platform, see Rezak et al. 1990) of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. The col- lections were part of a Minerals Manage- ment Service (then Bureau of Land Man- agement) sponsored baseline study referred to as the Mississippi-Alabama-Florida (MAFLA) Outer Continental Shelf Study (OCS) (see Phillips et al. 1990). Material used in the present investigation came from 1 1 of the 87 MAFLA stations distributed in 9 transects that were sampled for benthic infauna during 1975-1978. Stations where the new species was taken were scattered from southeast of Panama City, Florida, to west of Cape Romano in water depths rang- ing from 10 to 177 m (Fig. 1). All of the specimens are damaged, and many are frag- mentary with legs usually detached or miss- ing. The holotype and a series of paratypes have been deposited in the National Mu- seum of Natural History (USNM). Para- types to be transferred to the Museum of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL) are indicated. Upogebia spinistipula, new species Figs. 2-3 Material examined. —^13.. 2211, 27°56'29.5"N, 83°52'59.5"W, 43 m, coarse sand: USNM 239251, Holotype <5, Nov 1977.-239252, Allotype 9, Jul 1976.- Paratypes: 239260, 1 1 5, 7 9 (2 ovig.), 1 juv., Jul 1975 (4 $ and 2 9 ovig. to be transferred to GCRL). -239261, 2 <5, 2 9 ovig., 2 other frags., Jul 1976.-239262, 1 9 ovig., Feb 1978.-239265,detachedlegs, 9 Aug 1977. Sta. 2528, 29°54'58.6"N, 86°04'58.5"W, 37 m, coarse sand: 239253, 3 9 ovig. & 1 prob- able (5, Feb 1977.-1 $ cephalothorax, Sep 1977.-2 9 (1 ovig.), Feb 1978. Sta. 2531, 29°47'58.9"N, 86°09'28.9"W, 45 m, coarse sand: 239254, 3 9 (1 frag.), 7 Feb 1976.-1 juv., Nov 1977. Sta. 2532, 29°46'N, 86°12.5'W, 52 m, coarse sand: 239255, 1 tiny cephalothorax, Jul 1976. Sta. 2533, 29°42'59.9"N, 85°15'28.6"W, 67 m, coarse sand: 239256, 1 9 ovig., 26 Sep 1975.-1 tiny juv., 8 Feb 1976. Sta. 2534, 29°40'N, 86°17'W, 73 m, coarse sand: 239257, 1 3, Jul 1976. Sta. 2419, 29°46'59.8"N, 84°05'00.2"W, 10 m, medium fine sand: 50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 85°00' 83°00' 8l°00' 29c 00' 28' CX)' LMrU. i l'JII I l i - ' i;;^"" ' .^- '' v JL- I ."- ! " ■■■■i" ' -' ' . ' Jc! ' .'-IV''v.' ' i ■ ! ■'■'■ ■■■■. I , ' ' ■ ■ -,- i ..-|..' ' .■■ ' .. -. I - ! - 1."-.- - I ' '■■■■■■■.■. ' ..■ ' ■■■■■3 . / ^, .2528 ^^<^i^^ffiMS!^ N^^;^/::^";^;- ;;^v^:^ 2 5 so 75 IOO:v'i^y/: I....;., kilomfttert H >;:^^'•^■:^■K'?^■^ "V- depth contour! in ''r' ' ' ►^^, . . . 2532/!»253l ; /' "-^ 2534'253J< ', ^•23I3\ t , Tom pal 1 • \ 1 1 \ ' I \ \ \^ ^ W ' ;'■ 27° \ '^ \ V ^, \S^ _ 00' 1 / \ 1 1 \ 'M 26° 00' < ^ 1 1 1 \ \ 1 1 •295G1 1 1 ': ^ ^^ Fig. L BLM 77/88 MAFLA Survey station locations in northeastern Gulf of Mexico at which Upogebia spinistipula, new species, was collected. Station data are given in Materials Studied. 239258, 1 juv., Sep 1977. Sta. 2313, 28°23'59.3"N, 85°15'03.0"W, 177 m, clay- ey, sandy silt: 239259, 1 3, 20 Jan 1976. Sta. 2748, 27°37.2'N, 83°53.5'W, 50 m, coarse sand: 239263, 4 juvs. (2 frags.), Jul 1976.- 1 5, 2 5, Nov 1977.-1 juv. frags., Feb 1978. Sta. 2959, 25°40'N, 83°05'W, 60 m, silty, very fine sand: 239264, 1 postlarva, 9 Aug 1977. Diagnosis.— KosXnxm bearing subapical pair of strong spines followed on each side by 5-7 strong spines. Projections to either side of elongate rostrum ending in acute spine. Postocular spine present. First and second abdominal segment lacking ventral spines; sixth segment lacking hooked an- terolateral spine. Telson subrectangular. Antennular and antennal peduncles each bearing irregular row of ventral spines. Mer- us of cheliped lacking subdistal dorsal spine, carpus with 2-3 subequal spines on me- siodistal margin. Merus of leg 2 with prox- imal mesioventral spine, merus of leg 4 spineless. Description. —Rostrum subtriangular, straight, narrow, tip exceeding eyestalks by distance at least % their length; dorsal pair of strong, subapical spines followed on each lateral margin by 5-7 strong dorsal spines, ventral midline bearing 2-3 spines; dorsal surface bearing spiniform tubercles ar- ranged more or less parallel to either lateral VOLUME 104, NUMBER 1 51 Fig. 2. Upogebia spinistipula, new species, S Holotype: a. Cephalic region, lateral; b, Anterior carapace, dorsal; c. Right cheliped, lateral; d, Left chela and carpus, mesial; e, Leg 2; / Leg 3; g, Leg 4; h, Telson and uropods. Scales = 1 mm: \, a, c, h; 2, b, d-g. margin and confluent with field of similar spines on anterior % of cephalic region, field angling toward sides posteriorly and dimin- ishing to obsolescence; gastric surface pos- terior to this smooth; field of spines flanked on each side by posteriorly divergent furrow and that in turn by straight lateral ridge slightly diverging from median line poste- riorly, each ridge bearing crest of about 8- 10 spines, strongest on lateral rostral pro- cess and decreasing to obsolescence poste- riorly. Shoulder flanking cervical groove bearing 1 or 2 spines below intersection with thalassinidean line; latter continued to pos- terior margin of carapace with slight inter- ruption. Postocular spine present. Abdominal sterna unarmed, terga gla- brous, very few setae on margin of pleura 3-5. Telson subrectangular, obsolescent trans- 52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON Fig. 3. Upogebia spinistipula, new species, 2 Paratype: a. Right cheliped, lateral; b, Right chela rotated slightly to show ventral spine on palm; c. Left chela and carpus, mesial; d. Leg 2; e. Leg 3; / Leg 4. Scale = 1 mm. verse anterior ridge confluent with broader lateral ridge at each side, posterior margin with shallow concavity. Eyestalk stout, eye as broad as distal di- ameter of stalk, directed anteriorly and lat- erally; stalk in lateral view concave dorsally, convex ventrally. Antennular peduncle reaching slightly be- yond terminal article of antennal peduncle, its proximal 2 articles together slightly shorter than terminal article; uneven row of spines on ventral margin of articles 1, 2 and proximal half of 3; flagella unequal, lower thinner ramus somewhat longer than thick- er upper one. Antennal peduncle with less than V3 its length (terminal article and distal part of penultimate article) extending beyond tip of rostrum, row of spines on ventrolateral margin of apparent articles 1 and proximal part of 2, ventromesial spines on article 2 continued as ventral row on article 3, ter- minal article spineless; scale moderate, tri- angular, tapered to acute terminal spine; fla- gellum, if extended, reaching beyond branchiostegite. Maxilliped 3 without epipod. Epistomial projection subquadrate in lat- eral view, bearing 2 strong spines on antero- dorsal comer. Chelipeds subequal. Coxa with slender anteriorly hooked spine on posteromesial margin. Ventral margin of ischium spine- less. Merus lacking subdistal dorsal spine; row of 9-1 1 slender variably sized and ar- ranged spines or tubercles on ventral mar- gin. Carpus trigonal, shallow longitudinal groove laterally, lacking submarginal spine at anterior ventrolateral comer; mesiodor- sal crest of 3 or more moderate to strong VOLUME 104, NUMBER 1 53 Spines behind prominent spine on anterior margin, 3 moderate spines on anterodorsal margin mesial to ari;iculation with propo- dus; strong spine near middle of distomesial margin, and occasionally 1 or 2 smaller spines on margin above it, S sometimes with tubercles on proximomesial surface near anteromesial spines. Palm suboval in cross section, length including fixed finger about 2.4 times height near midlength in S, 5.5 times height in 9; bearing longitudinal rows of mixed plumose and long setae on all sur- faces, longest ventrally; palm of S with ob- solescent dorsal ridge, paralleling this a me- siodorsal row of forwardly bent or hooked spines, and on proximomesial margin be- neath overhanging prominent anterodorsal spine of carpus a slightly sigmoid row of spiniform tubercles; distomarginal spine below mesial dactylar condyle, 1-3 smaller spines ventral to this on distal margin of palm; lower mesial surface usually spine- less, but often in S and occasionally in 9 a spine on ventral margin of palm about % distance from proximal margin; low ridge running obliquely anteriad from heel of palm to become obsolescent at midlength. Fixed finger short, slender, downcurved from palm and tapering anteriorly to slender tip, 2-5 obsolescent teeth on proximal prehensile edge. Dactyl stouter than fixed finger and far overreaching it, setose, toothless, tip cor- neous. Legs 2-5 elongate and slender. Leg 2 reaching about to distal V4 of cheliped palm; carpus with slender, acute distodorsal spine and similar but smaller subdistal ventral spine; merus without subdistal dorsal spine, proximal mesioventral spine succeeded dis- tally by 5-7 ventral spines diminishing in size along row; coxa with strong proxi- momesial spine. Leg 3 with merus bearing ventral row of 5-9 spines; ischium un- armed; coxa of 9 with flange-like low spine lateral to gonopore. Leg 4 with merus and ischium unarmed, dactyl longer than pro- podus. Subchelate leg 5 reaching beyond is- chium of cheliped. Uropod with ovate exopod far overreach- ing subtriangular endopod, tiny acute spine on protopod above base of endopod. Measurements in mm. —Holotype $: length anterior carapace 6.8, length cara- pace 10.9, length chela including fixed finger 7.7, height palm near midlength 2.8; allo- type 9, same measurements: 4.0, 6.8, 2.8, 0.77. Known m«^^.— Confined to the material examined (see Fig. 1). Etymology.— From the Latin "spina," spine, and "stipula," stalk, for the spined antennular and antennal peduncles. It is a noun in apposition. Remarks. — Upogebia spinistipula, new species, has an unmodified tail fan with es- sentially rectangular telson, being morpho- logically similar in this respect to the ma- jority of upogebiid species in the western hemisphere. In other respects, however, the species differs from western Atlantic con- geners. The ventrally spiny antennular and antennal peduncles, for which the species is named, are shared by no other known rep- resentatives in the region, but these articles are so spined in some species of the newly erected Gebiacantha Ngoc-Ho, 1989, which contains several representatives from the Indo-West Pacific region. Gebiacantha acu- tispina (de Saint Laurent & Ngoc-Ho, 1979) and G. reunionensis Ngoc-Ho, 1989 are per- haps closest to U. spinistipula with respect to these structures. U. spinistipula has one postorbital spine, but species of Gebiacan- tha have two or more postorbital spines. The relatively smooth but sexually dimor- phic chelipeds of U. spinistipula are devoid of strong ventral spines characteristic of G^- biacantha species. The long slender rostrum of U. spinistipu- la bears some resemblance to that of U. lepta Williams, 1986, from the eastern Pa- cific. The dorsal surface of the rostrum of the former bears small spines in addition to those along the rostral margin, whereas in U. lepta the dorsal surface, except for the margin, is spineless. U. spinistipula there- 54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON fore seems to stand apart in a number of respects from other species in the family. Acknowledgments The manuscript benefitted from the con- structive comments of Bruce B. Collette, Brian Kensley, Raymond B. Manning, and an anonymous reviewer. We are grateful to Hans G. Kuck for sorting the material and preliminary work on identification, and to Keiko Hiratsuka Moore for preparing the illustrations. Specimens studied were col- lected under Bureau of Land Management contracts to the State University System of Florida Institute of Oceanography (contract 08550-CT-ll) and to Dames and Moore (contract AA550-CT7-34). Literature Cited De Saint Laurent, M., & N. Ngoc-Ho. 1979. De- scription de deux especes nouvelles du genre Upogebia Leach, 1814 (Decapoda, Upogebi- idae).— Crustaceana 37(l):57-70. Leach, W. E. [1814]. Crustaceology. In Edinburgh encyclopaedia 76:383-437, pi. 221, Edinburgh [Scotland]. Ngoc-Ho, N. 1989. Sur le genre Gebiacantha gen. nov., avec la description de cinq especes nou- velles (Crustacea, Thalassinidea, Upogebi- idae).— Bulletin du Museum National d'His- toire Naturelle, Serie 4, Section A 1 1(1): 117- 145. Phillips, N. W., D. A. Gettleson, & K. D. Spring. 1 990. Benthic biological studies of the southwest Flor- ida shelf.— American Zoologist 30(l):65-75. Rezak, R., S. R. Gittings, & T. J. Bright. 1 990. Biotic assemblages and ecological controls on reefs and banks of the northwest Gulf of Mexico.— Amer- ican Zoologist 30(1): 2 3-3 5. Williams, A. B. 1986. Mud shrimps, CpogeZj/a, from the eastern Pacific (Thalassinoidea: Upogebi- idae).— San Diego Society of Natural History, Memoir 14:1-60. (ABW) National Marine Fisheries Ser- vice Systematics Laboratory, National Mu- seum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. 20560; (RWH) Gulf Coast Research Lab- oratory, P.O. Box 7000, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564-7000.