Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica is a species of Glypheoidea, and the only species in the genus Laurentaeglyphea. It is known from a single specimen collected on a guyot in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Caledonia. It is thought to be an active predator with color vision, unlike its nearest living relative, Neoglyphea inopinata.
Description
Laurentaeglyphea is known from a single adult female specimen, with a carapace in size.
In life, the animal is whitish and marked with red patches, especially on the abdomen and the distal segments of the first
; the markings are much fainter on the carapace.
Laurantaeglyphea has large reniform (kidney-shaped) eyes, more developed in the lower half than the upper.
Distribution
The single known specimen of
Laurentaeglyphea was collected at a depth of on Banc Capel (Chesterfield Plateau; ) in the
Coral Sea.
Ecology
The ecology of
Laurentaeglyphea is very different from that of its closest living relative,
Neoglyphea inopinata.
Banc Capel is a
guyot – a former
atoll with steep sides and a flat top – and is swept by strong currents. There are no sandy or muddy substrates, the surface being occupied by rocks or gravel
scree.
It is dominated by
, including the genus
Phloedictyon and
. Other
Decapoda found in the same trawls including the
slipper lobster Ibacus brucei, the crab
Randallia and
Portunidae.
On the basis of its large eyes, Laurentaeglyphea is thought to be an active predator, perhaps one with similar hunting behaviour to that of .
The collected specimen of Laurentaeglyphea was observed to be very active and aggressive, using its semichelate first pereiopods to attack.
Taxonomy
Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica was originally described by Bertrand Richer de Forges in 2006, on the basis of a single specimen (the
holotype).
He named the species
Neoglyphea neocaledonica, where the specific epithet
neocaledonica refers to
New Caledonia, the nearest land to the site where the holotype was collected.
Later that year,
Jacques Forest erected the new genus
Laurentaeglyphea for the new species, separating it from
Neoglyphea inopinata, the only other species in the genus
Neoglyphea. The genus name
Laurentaeglyphea commemorates Michèle de Saint Laurent, who had discovered and co-described the first Recent specimen of the infraorder Glypheidea.
The two species of living glypheids are considered "".
Notes
