Squat lobsters of the family Munidopsidae Ortmann, 1898 (Decapoda, Galatheoidea) from the seamounts of the Southeast Pacific Ocean ridges

2026/07/16 by María de los A. Gallardo-Salamanca, Paula C Rodrguez-Flores, Enrique Macpherson · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Crustacean biology and ecology #Marine Biology and Ecology Research #Marine Sponges and Natural Products

paper · pdf · doi:10.3897/zse.102.196673

openalex publication_date 2026/07/16 · openalex created_date 2026/07/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

An extensive sampling effort was conducted in the southeast Pacific, across the Nazca, Salas and Gómez, and Juan Fernández ridges during 2024, encompassing both the Chilean Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and adjacent high seas. During these expeditions, numerous specimens of squat lobsters belonging to the family Munidopsidae were collected. The present collection comprises one species of Galacantha , one new species of the genus Leiogalathea , and six species of Munidopsis , three of them considered here as new species. The use of morphological and molecular data confirms the validity of the new species, as well as the occurrence in the southeastern Pacific of species cited in the eastern Indo-West Pacific, e.g., M. comarge , southwestern Pacific, e.g., L. rosula sp. nov ., and northeastern Pacific, e.g., M. tiburon .

Citations

• MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model Space
• MEGA11: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis Version 11
• A faunal inventory of methane seeps on the Pacific margin of Costa Rica
• UFBoot2: Improving the Ultrafast Bootstrap Approximation
• W-IQ-TREE: a fast online phylogenetic tool for maximum likelihood analysis

Discussions

• Surveys from 2024 across the Nazca, Salas y Gómez, and Juan Fernández ridges (SE Pacific) led to the discovery of a new squat #lobsters: a new Leiogalathea and three new Munidopsis species. All the [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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