Ahyong, S.T. 2010. The marine fauna of New Zealand: King crabs of New Zealand, Australia and the Ross Sea (Crustacea: Decapoda: Lithodidae). Wellington, NZ: NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research). NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 123, 194 p.
Abstract
The king crabs, Lithodidae, are among the largest and most conspicuous deepwater crustaceans worldwide, including the polar regions. Prior to the present study, 0 extant species were believed to occur in New Zealand and Australia: Lithodes murrayi, Lithodes longispina, Neolithodes brodiei, Neolithodes flindersi, and six species of Paralomis. Three species in two genera of lithodid have been recorded from the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Surprisingly, however, the Australian and New Zealand lithodid fauna has never been studied in detail and the identities of most species in the region have never been explicitly scrutinised. The Lithodidae from New Zealand, Australia, and the Ross Sea are thus fully reviewed. A total of three genera and 23 species are now known from the study area: 3 species in New Zealand, 2 in Australia (four shared by both regions) and three in the Ross Sea (of which one species extends onto the Macquarie Ridge). Neither L. murrayi nor L. longispina occurs in the region. Previous records of L. longispina and L. murrayi from New Zealand are based on different ontogenetic phases of the same undescribed species, herein named L. aotearoa sp. nov. Previous records of L. longispina from Australia are based on Lithodes richeri and an undescribed species, herein named L. australiensis sp. nov. Records of Lithodes murrayi from Macquarie Island are referable to L. macquariae sp. nov. Thus, L. longispina is reliably known only from Japan, and L. murrayi is reliably known only from the southwestern Indian Ocean. Lithodes murrayi does not exbihit a circumpolar distribution as formerly believed. Neolithodes brodiei is known only from New Zealand; reports of the species from Australia are based on the recently described N. flindersi Ahyong, 20 0. Previous reports of Paralomis histrix from New Zealand are based on juvenile Paralomis zealandica, and P. cf. histrix from southeastern Australia are referable to a new species, P. echidna sp. nov. In total 4 new species are described, five exclusively from New Zealand, five exclusively from Australia, and four shared by both regions. Of the three lithodid species known from the Ross Sea, Neolithodes yaldwyni Ahyong & Dawson, 2006 and Paralomis stevensi Ahyong & Dawson, 2006 are presently known only from Antarctic waters; the third species, P. birsteini Macpherson, 988 ranges onto the Macquarie Ridge. Paralomis stevensi is reported for the first time from the Amundsen Sea. Paralomis shinkaimaruae Takeda & Hatanaka, 984 is synonymised with P. zealandica Dawson & Yaldwyn, 97 . Results of the present study demonstrate con siderably higher species richness than previously known, essentially doubling the known fauna of the region (auth)