Neolithodes indicus

Neolithodes indicus is a species of king crab found in the southeastern Arabian Sea.^[1]

Neolithodes indicus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Anomura
Family:	Lithodidae
Genus:	Neolithodes
Species:	N. indicus
Binomial name
Neolithodes indicus Padate, Cubelio & Takeda, 2020[1]

Appearance

N. indicus has a pyriform carapace whose dorsal surface is heavily populated with small spinules inbetween major, conical spines; at the longest in one of its female paratypes, it has been measured at 188.3 mm (7.41 in) in length and 169.7 mm (6.68 in) in width.^[1] Its rostrum is about 3–10% the length of the carapace – excluding the rostrum itself – in large specimens.^[1] Like the carapace, its chelipeds and walking legs are covered in small spinules, and its rear walking legs – which are the longest – have four major spines.^[1] The chelipeds and walking legs are lighter in colouration than the carapace, however, which is a clay-like reddish-brown.^[1] Its chelae have several small spines and are lined with rows of golden setae.^[1]

On the underside, its short, cylindrical fifth set of legs are tucked under its abdomen and covered in bristles.^[1] Except for the first segment which is sparsely populated with tubercles, the abdomen is covered in numerous evenly spaced spinules.^[1] The median and submedian plates of the second segment of its abdomen bear large spines, as do the margins of the second through fifth segments.^[1]

Distribution

N. indicus is known from three female specimens collected in the southeastern Arabian Sea off the coast of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India from 2013 to 2014.^[1] These three specimens were found at depths between 1,064–1,338 m (3,491–4,390 ft) in the mid-continental slope on a bathymetric protrusion known as the Terrace of Trivandrum.^[1]

Taxonomy

N. indicus was described in 2020 by carcinologists Vinay Padate, Sherine Sonia Cubelio, and Masatsune Takeda.^[1] Its genus name "Neolithodes" is derived from Greek and Latin and means "new stone-crab",^[2] while its species name "indicus" is Latin for "Indian".^[1] It is likely conspecific with Neolithodes alcocoki, a nomen nudum suggested in the 1980s,^[1] and it was originally identified erroneously as Lithodes agassizii^[a] by A.R.S. Anderson in 1896.^[1][3] N. indicus most closely resembles N. brodiei from New Zealand, N. flindersi from southeastern Australia, and N. nipponensis from Japan and Taiwan.^[1]

Notes

1. Now Neolithodes agassizii