Coral reef-associated brachyuran fauna (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from Angria Bank off the west coast of India.

Underwater sampling via SCUBA and grab at the Angria Bank coral reefs off the central west coast of India in January 2014 revealed 11 species of Brachyura. Seven species, namely, Thusaenys irami (Laurie, 1906), Tanaocheles bidentata (Nobili, 1901), Portunus convexus De Haan, 1835, Xiphonectes macrophthalmus (Rathbun, 1906), Thalamita gatavakensis Nobili, 1906, Serenius ceylonicus (Laurie, 1906), and Soliella flava (Rathbun, 1894) are reported for the first time from Indian waters. Furthermore, the geographical distribution of T. irami and S. ceylonicus is extended westwards of hitherto known ranges.

Paralomis White, 1856 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) from India, with morphological variability in Paralomis indica Alcock amp; Anderson, 1899.

Deep-water king crabs of the genus Paralomis White, 1856 collected during three cruises of the Fishery Oceanographic Research Vessel Sagar Sampada in the western Bay of Bengal (528777 m depths), one cruise in the eastern Bay of Bengal off Great Nicobar Island (337 m depth), and four cruises in the southeastern Arabian Sea (3151245 m) were identified. They are referred to Paralomis ceres Macpherson, 1989, recorded for the first time from Indian waters and P. indica Alcock Anderson, 1899, reported for the first time from the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. In addition, this study reports the morphological variability among the P. indica populations in the shape of the carapace and dorsal rostral spines, nature of the branchial and cardiac regions and abdominal marginal spines, and the relative lengths of pereopods 24. Mitochondrial Cytochrome oxidase I (594 base pairs) and 16S rRNA (503 bp) gene sequences of P. ceres and P. indica (602 and 497 bp, respectively) revealed that they formed distinct lineages. A key to the Indian Ocean species of Paralomis is provided.

Two axiidean ghost shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda) from India, Guyanacaris keralam sp. nov. (Axiidae) and Paragourretia galathea (K. Sakai, 2017) (Ctenochelidae).

Ghost shrimps collected from the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone by the Fishery Oceanographic Research Vessel Sagar Sampada during two cruises in the eastern (105 metres depth) and southeastern Arabian Sea (101 and 326 metres depth) were studied. One male, identified as Guyanacaris keralam sp. nov. of the Axiidae, differs from its congeners in the unique armature of the rostrum, gastric region of carapace, pleonal pleural margins, dorsal margins of cheliped fingers, ventral margin of second pereopod merus, and lateral margins of telson; the presence of corneous spines on the propodi and dactyli of third and fourth pereopods, and the relative sizes of the ocular peduncles, antennular peduncle, scaphocerite and cheliped fingers. Guyanacaris K. Sakai, 2011 is re-diagnosed based on the presence of short supraocular spine and post-cervical carina on carapace, dentate margins of first two pleonal pleura, third to fifth pleura with angular to straight posterior margins, antennal scaphocerite with mesial spine at base, and presence of male first pleopod 1. Bruceaxius thailandensis K. Sakai, 2015 is tentatively retained in Bruceaxius K. Sakai, 2011, owing to absence of mesial spine at the base of scaphocerite, tuberculate upper margins of carpus, propodus and dactylus of major cheliped, and tri-segmented appendix masculina on male second pleopod. In addition, two males, diagnosed herein as Paragourretia galathea (K. Sakai, 2017) of the Ctenochelidae, differ from the holotype female only in the relative length of the terminal antennular article and the presence of a distomedian spinule on the telson, of all the features.

Two new species of the genus Galathea Fabricius, 1793 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Galatheidae) from the Andaman Sea, India.

Two new species of the galatheid squat lobster genus Galathea Fabricius, 1793 are described from the Andaman Sea, India. Galathea nicobarica sp. nov. closely resembles G. rubromaculata Miyake & Baba, 1967a, but differs in the armature of the branchial carapace margin and shape of the dactylus of the third maxilliped. Galathea tirmiziae sp. nov. is allied to G. consobrina De Man, 1902 and G. tagaro Macpherson & Robainas-Barcia, 2015, but is distinguished by the merus of the third maxilliped lacking a disto-extensor spine and the proportionally more slender merus of the second pereopod.

First records of two species of reef-associated mantis shrimps (Crustacea: Stomatopoda) from India.

The coastal marine environments in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone harbour a rich diversity of mantis shrimps. However, several regions have not been adequately surveyed for their stomatopod faunal composition. In this paper, we report the first records of two species, Gonodactylopsis drepanophora (de Man, 1902) and Cloridina malaccensis (Manning, 1968) from Indian waters. Samples were collected using a chain dredge deployed by the Fishery Oceanographic Research Vessel Sagar Sampada on the shallow reefs (5356 m depths) of the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal during AugustNovember 2019. Gonodactylopsis drepanophora was previously known only from Indonesia, and Cloridina malaccensis from Southeast Asia, New Caledonia and Madagascar.

Description of a new species of deep-sea spider crab from the genus Crocydocinus Lee, Richer de Forges amp; Ng, 2019, from the south-eastern Arabian Sea (Crustacea: Decapoda: Majoidea: Epialtidae).

A new species of spider crab is described from two male specimens collected from the southeastern Arabian Sea. This species differs from its congeners in the absence of uograstric granule on carapace, the presence of two granules along lateral margin of carapace at branchial region, the presence of granules on P2-P4 dactyli and the constricted distal tip of the male first gonopod.

Description of a new species of deep-water king-crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) from the southeastern Arabian Sea.

A new species of the deep-water king-crab genus Neolithodes A. Milne-Edwards Bouvier, 1894 (Anomura: Lithodidae) is described herein from the southeastern Arabian Sea (1064-1338 m depth). Neolithodes indicus sp. nov. shows morphological proximity with three congeneric species, N. brodiei Dawson Yaldwyn, 1970, N. flindersi Ahyong, 2010a and N. nipponensis Sakai, 1971 in bearing less numerous secondary spines on the carapace, the dactylus of the chelipeds with a convex dorsal margin and dorsoventrally compressed meri of the pereopods 2-4. The new species can be easily distinguished from these congeners in possessing the less densely spinulose carapace and appendages, short rostrum, simple antennal scaphocerite, the absence of large spines on the flexor margins of the pereopods 2-3 meri, and a stouter pereopod 4 propodus.