| Pleistacantha kannu | |
|---|---|
_Figure_1.jpg)
| |
| A. large male specimen, B. female specimen, both collected from the Bay of Bengal | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| : | [[Template:Taxonomy/Pleistacantha]] |
| Species: | Template:Taxonomy/PleistacanthaP. kannu
|
| Binomial name | |
| Template:Taxonomy/PleistacanthaPleistacantha kannu Ng, Ravinesh & Ravichandran, 2017[1]
| |
Pleistacantha kannu is a species of spider crab in the family Oregoniidae.[1] It is found on the coast of Southern India from the Bay of Bengal at depths of 129–530 m (423–1,739 ft).[2]
Description[edit | edit source]
Pleistacantha kannu has a pyriform carapace whose dorsal surface is covered with short, conical, broad-based spines and sharp tubercles.[3] Its carapace is about as long postrostrally[lower-alpha 1] as it is wide,[3] measuring up to 150 mm (5.9 in) long and up to 138 mm (5.4 in) wide.[2] Its branchial region is strongly inflated, distinguishing it from similar Pleistacantha species such as P. moseleyi, P. pungens, and P. ori.[3] It is the largest spider crab known to inhabit the Indian Ocean.[2]
Its carapace ranges from orange to orange-red on the dorsal surface, its chelipeds and walking legs are reddish-brown with white fingers in males and orange and white in females, and its ventral surfaces are dirty white.[3] Its walking legs end in a horn-like tip covered in setae, and they are covered in short tubercles and granules.[3] Its abdomen lacks spines but is covered in numerous blunt and sharp tubercles.[3]
Taxonomy[edit | edit source]
Pleistacantha kannu was described in 2017 by carcinologists Peter Kee Lin Ng, Raveendhiran Ravinesh, and S. Ravichandran.[3] It is named after T. Kannupandi, an Indian carcinologist at the Annamalai University.[3] It is considered likely conspecific with a crab collected in 1997 from the Gulf of Aden.[3]
Notes[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Template:Cite WoRMS
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Prema, M.; Ravichandran, Samuthirapandian; Ng, Peter K. L. (2020). "Morphometric and Sexual Dimorphism in the Giant Spiny Spider Crab Pleistacantha kannu Ng, Ravinesh & Ravichandran 2017 (Crustacea: Brachyura: Oregoniidae) from India". Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 73 (1): 86–94. Bibcode:2020PZooS..73...86P. doi:10.1007/s12595-019-00295-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Ng, Peter K. L.; Ravinesh, Raveendhiran; Ravichandran, S. (2017). "A new large oregoniid spider crab of the genus Pleistacantha Miers, 1879, from the Bay of Bengal, India (Crustacea, Brachyura, Majoidea)". ZooKeys (716): 127–146. Bibcode:2017ZooK..716..127N. doi:10.3897/zookeys.716.21349. PMC 5740409. PMID 29290711.
