Bemlos Shoemaker 1925

Lembos pualani

Lembos (Bemlos) aequimanus.—J. L. Barnard, 1955a, p. 34 [not Schellenberg, 1938].

DIAGNOSIS OF MALE.—Lateral lobes of head strongly extended forward and truncate, anteroventral margin of head excavate, nearly flat-bottomed, then produced to medium-sized anteroventral cusp; eyes subcircular, brownish-purple cores in alcohol, surrounded by 1–2 layers of clear ommatidia; coxa 1 quadratiform, anterior and ventral margins excavate, anteroventral corner sharply attenuate; gnathopod 1 of medium enlargement, article 2 of normal stoutness, anterodistal corner with medium-sized mammilliform lobe, article 4 with distal point not free, article 5 of medium breadth, about 70 percent as long as article 6, latter rectangular, very strongly setose medially, palm slightly oblique, bearing deep incision separating 2 processes, defining process slender but unarmed, dactyl of medium stoutness and strongly overlapping palm; article 2 of gnathopod 2 with strongly projecting, thin mammilliform anterodistal lobe, article 4 with distal point not free, articles 5 and 6 equal to each other in length, palm nearly transverse, defined by spine and slight protuberance, setation dense medially but not anteriorly; thoracic sternites lacking keel or teeth; pleonal epimera 1–3 with bulging posterior margins, weak lateral ridges and slight notch and tooth at posteroventral corners, ventral setae absent; uropod 3 bearing article 2 on outer ramus, rami equal to each other in length, peduncle with large spine.

FEMALE.—Coxa 1 evenly quadrate, with softly rounded anteroventral corner; gnathopod 1 of normal female kind in Lembos, but slightly stouter than in L. waipio, new species, article 5 distinctly shorter than 6; gnathopod 2 with no anterodistal lobe on article 2.

DESCRIPTION.—Antenna 1 as long as head, pereon, and metasome combined, exceeding antenna 2 by only 3 (female) to 6 (male) flagellar articles; epistome slightly rounded anteriorly, remainder of mouthparts like those of L. leapakahi, new species, but left mandibular molar lacking “shark-tooth”; article 2 of pereopods 3–5 with small posteroproximal extension; urosome and uropods appearing similar to those of L. leapakhai, but spines thinner and peduncles of uropods 1–2 lacking lateral setae, uropods 1–2 with long peduncular process between rami, peduncle of uropod 1 with 1 basolateral spine, and distolateral seta, no distal spine, peduncle of uropod 3 with 2 basolateral setae; telson large but not strongly elevated, deeply excavate dorsally, with weak pair of posterolateral nobs, weakly to strongly slit from lateral view.

COLOR IN ALCOHOL.—Head and pereonites 2–6 with several small, bright, dorsolateral brownish-purple spots on white background, or occasionally with large blotches.

HOLOTYPE.—Bishop Museum collections, catalog number 7262, male, 4.3 mm.

TYPE-LOCALITY.—JLB Hawaii 14, 1 mi N of Kualoa Point, Oahu, intertidal, algae, dead coral heads, 23 May 1967.

MATERIAL.—JLB Hawaii 12 (17), 13 (24), 14 (7), 15 (17), 17 (7).

RELATIONSHIP.—This species differs from L. waipio, new species, in coxa 1, the more strongly setose gnathopods of both sexes, the stouter male gnathopod 1 with shorter article 5, stouter female gnathopod 1, palm of gnathopod 2 in both sexes shorter relative to posterior margin of hand, rami of uropod 3 shorter and equal in length to each other, article 2 of pereopod 5 slightly spinier, article 6 with spines proximal to locking pair, antenna 2 slightly stouter, mandibular molar lacking shark tooth, and the absence of a spiniform sternal keel on the male.

Lembos pualani differs from the Gilbertian-Fijian L. aequimanus Schellenberg (1938) in the unmodified palm of female gnathopod 2, the highly modified male coxa 1, the complete absence of male sternal teeth, and the elongate article 5 on gnathopod 1 of the female.

The Hawaiian species appears most closely related to but differs from Californian “Lembos concavus Stout” (J. L. Barnard, 1962a) by the weakness of anterior setation on article 6 of gnathopod 1 and article 5 of gnathopod 2 in males and the more highly modified coxa 1.

American L. macromanus (Shoemaker, 1925) differs from L. pualani in the strongly setose article 2 of pereopods 4–5, the presence of sternal teeth in the male, the weak anterodistal lobe on article 2 of male gnathopod 2, the much stouter male gnathopod 1 with short article 5, and the weakly overlapping dactyl.

DISTRIBUTION.—Hawaiian Islands.