Hamiger novaezealandiae Borradaile 1916

Hamiger novaezealandiae (Borradaile, 1916)

(Fig. 8 B)

Periclimenes (Hamiger) novae­zealandiae Borradaile, 1916: 87, fig. 4.

Periclimenaeus novae­zealeandiae — Holthuis, 1952: 130.

Hamiger novaezealandiae — Bruce, 1986: 911 ­919, figs. 1­4. — Li, 2000: 55­56, fig. 58.

Material examined. (1) 1 ♂, CL 8.6, NORFANZ stn: 133, Reinga Ridge, 33°23.74’S 170°13.03”E, orange roughy trawl, 456­490 m, 1 June 2003, coll. P.F.Davie and R.Webber, RMNH D 51027.

(2) 3 ♂, CLs 7.5, 6.2, 6.2, NORFANZ stn. 136, South Norfolk Ridge, 33°23.60’S 170°12.38’E, beam trawl, 469­490 m, 1 June 2003, coll. P.F.Davie and R.Webber, NMNZ CR.9992, CR.9993, CR.9994.

(3) 1 ♂, 1 ovig. Ψ, CLs 6.0, 8.3, NORFANZ stn. 139, West Norfolk Ridge, 34°24.50’S 168°23.19’E, orange roughy trawl, 382­390 m, 2 June 2003, coll. P.F.Davie and R.Webber, QM W27569

Host. Lophocalyx sp. nov., [Porifera: Hexactinellida], (det. K.Tabachnick, 24 July 2004).

Colouration ( Fig. 8 B). (From colour photo). Body and antennae translucent whitish, eyestalks white, ovary pale yellowish, first and second pereiopods, ambulatory pereiopods and caudal fan coppery brown, fingers of minor second pereiopod transversely banded with white

Remarks. The specimens agree precisely with the previous descriptions (Borradaile, 1916; Bruce, 1986). All specimens had both second pereiopods attached. The largest male had a rostral dentition of 9/2, with three teeth on the carapace. The female has a dentition of 6/2, but the distal rostrum appeared slightly damaged. One specimen, from stn. 136, has three ventral rostral teeth. The unusual major chela, missing in the female type specimen, is exactly as in the male.

The type specimens were collected in 1910 from the H.M.S. Terra Nova¸ the vessel of the British Antarctic Exploring Expedition, lead by Captain Robert Falcon Scott. The Biologist­in­Charge was Denis G. Lillie, a marine biologist, who presumably collected the type material, but is not mentioned on the original specimen label. No further specimens have since been collected until the present, almost a century later. The host of the type specimens was not identified. The present collections establish that it is an associate of hexactinellid sponges. The specimens (3) were collected as a heterosexual pair from the spongocoel of the hosts. Few pontoniines are known to be associated with hexactinellid hosts. Periclimenes forcipulatus Bruce, 1991 has been reported in association with the hexactinellid Phoronema sp., (Bruce, 1991) but it was not clear that the shrimp was in the sponge cavity. Also found on the same Phoronema host was a specimen of Mesopontonia monodactylus Bruce, 1991. It should be noted that the host sponge of Hamiger novaezealandiae, Lophocalyx sp., is not of the hollow cylindrical Venus Flower Basket type structure commonly found to permanently enclose a variety of spongicolid stenopid shrimp associates. It is a very large stalked sponge, about 0.6 m in length by 0.4 m width, with a highly convoluted outer surface. Photographs show thick walls enclosing capacious irregular internal spaces where portions have been broken off during collection.

Distribution. The type locality and only previous record is from 7 miles NE of North Cape, New Zealand, at 128 m.