Vibilia pyripes Bovallius 1887a: 10. — Bovallius 1887c: 71–72, pl. 10, figs 2330. Vosseler 1901: 125. Behning & Woltereck 1912: 5. Behning 1913a: 533. Behning 1913b: 221. Stephensen 1918: 5253, fig. 17, chart 5 (part). Behning 1925: 494–495, fig. 62. Schellenberg 1927: 617 618, fig. 26. Barnard 1930: 405. Barnard 1932: 267. Chevreux 1935: 175. Barnard 1937: 182. Reid 1955: 14. Irie 1959: Table 4. Vinogradov 1962: 16. Hurley 1969: 33, pl. 18 (map 3). Semenova 1973: 175. Semenova 1976: 139–140. Madin & Harbison 1977: 453 (table). Tranter 1977: 647, 648 (Table). Brusca 1981: 18 (key), 39, fig. 4g, 4l. Vinogradov et al. 1982: 232– 234, fig. 115. Young & Anderson 1987: 712, 716 (Table). Barkhatov & Vinogradov 1988: 168 (Table), 170, 173, 177. De Broyer & Jazdzewski 1993: 111. Shih & Chen 1995: 45–47, figs 22, 23. Zeidler 1998 (part): 34, 37. Barkhatov et al. 1999: 808 (Table). Vinogradov 1999: 1180, fig. 4.87.
Vibilia grandicornis Chevreux, 1900: 131–134, pl. 16, fig. 2. — Behning 1913b: 221. Stephensen 1918: 53. Pirlot 1929: 102. Chevreux 1935: 173.
Type material
Type material of V. pyripes could not be located at the SMNH, ZMUC or in Uppsala and is considered lost. However, the description and figures of Bovallius (1887c) readily distinguish this species. No precise type locality is given by Bovallius (1887a, c). He merely lists the distribution as “Tropical parts of Atlantic”.
Type material of synonyms
The syntypes of V. grandicornis (one male and one female) are in the MOM. The descriptions and figures of Chevreux (1900, 1935) readily confirm the synonymy.
Material examined (56 specimens)
Tasman Sea: 3 lots (SAMA), 4 specimens. North Atlantic: 1 lot (BMNH), 3 lots (USNM), 5 lots (ZMB), 4 lots (ZMUC), 26 specimens. South Atlantic: 1 lot (BMNH), 3 lots (ZMB), 10 specimens. North Pacific: 6 lots (LACM), 8 specimens. South Pacific: 1 lot (BMNH), 2 specimens. South Indian: 2 lots (SAM), 1 lot (ZMUC), 3 specimens. Red Sea (Gulf of Elat): 1 lot (USNM), 3 specimens.
Diagnosis
Body length up to 11 mm but usually less than 57 mm. Antennae 1 as long as head and first two pereonites; flagellum with dorsal margin relatively straight, ventral margin convex, rounded terminally. Gnathopod 2; carpal process less than halflength propodus. Pereopods 3 & 4; dactylus length about 0.7x propodus. Pereopods 5 & 6; dactylus length about 0.2x propodus. Pereopod 7; basis rectangular, width about 0.7x length, about as long as ischium to carpus combined, with rounded posterodistal lobe extending to about midmerus. Lateral corners of last urosomite produced, partly overlapping peduncle of U3. Uropod 3; peduncle slightly shorter than rami; sexual dimorphism of endopod not evident. Telson relatively large, circular, reaching a little beyond the middle of peduncle of U3.
Remarks
A characteristic feature of this species is the very short carpal process of gnathopod 2 and the shape of the urosome. In the shape of the urosome, V. pyripes resembles V. longicarpus, but differs in most other respects. The shape of antennae 1 is similar to V. bovalli Bonnier, 1896, but that species is insufficiently known for a comparison.
Vibilia pyripes has been recorded as an associate of the salp Iasis zonaria (Madin & Harbison 1977).
Distribution
This is a relatively rare species, found in both tropical and temperate waters of the world’s Oceans. Prior to this study records from the Indian Ocean were only from tropical waters but the above three records are from off South Africa, two near Durban and one from as far south as 35º12’S, 27º35’E (Galathea stn. 176).