Quadrimaera pacifica

Maera kaiulani

DIAGNOSIS OF FEMALE.—Lateral cephalic lobes softly quadrangular, anterolateral cephalic corner produced as narrow sharp tooth, eyes subreniform, orange in alcohol; upper lip lobate as in “Linguimaera” (Pirlot, 1936); coxa 1 weakly extended and sharp anteroventrally, anterior coxae lacking posteroventral notch; gnathopod 1 of medium stoutness, article 6 ovatorectangular, palm oblique and convex, slightly shorter than posterior margin of article 6, defined by tiny sharp cusp and 3 spines, article 5 with several medial rows of diverse setal spines, article 4 lacking posterodistal cusp; gnathopod 2 occasionally of different sizes on either side, very large, article 2 with medium-size anterodistal lobe, article 3 with similar lobe, article 4 weakly extended posterodistally on large gnathopod, sharp on small gnathopod, article 5 very short, with long tumid posterior lobe or less tumid on small gnathopod, article 6 very large, subrectangular, slightly expanded distally, palm nearly transverse, but weakly rounded and defined by large, sharp tooth-bearing spine, tooth next to small sinus, palm spinose and slightly scalloped and with one slight excavation near anterior end, dactyl fitting palm, small gnathopod with smooth but spinose palm and weak defining tooth; article 2 of pereopods 3–5 changing from narrowly ovatorectangular on pereopod 3 to subovate on pereopod 5, posteroventral lobes of medium extent; dactyls of pereopods 1–5 with strong distal constriction bearing sharp defining corner and armed with stout seta-bearing flange, sharp nail with large acute accessory tooth, facial setule, constriction also bearing stout setule appressed to margin of nail, locking spines straight and slightly pectinate; pleonal epimera 1–3 with rounded posterior margins and small to medium-sized posteroventral tooth, ventrally spinose, epimera 1–2 with lateral ridge, pleonites dorsally smooth; uropod 3 scarcely exceeding extent of uropods 1–2, rami flat, of medium breadth, apically truncate and spinose, inner ramus slightly shorter than outer, latter with thin article 2; telson deeply but not fully cleft, lobes with strongly fixed medial gap, each apex deeply and sharply bifid and bearing 2 spines nearly as long as telson.

MALE.—Gnathopod 2 slightly larger than largest of female, equal to each other on either side of animal.

JUVENILE DEVELOPMENT, 1.9 MM.—Accessory flagellum with 2 very long and 1 short articles, flagellum of antenna 2 with 4 articles; inner plate of maxilla 1 with 3 long and 2 short setae, same as adult; gnathopod 2 with large cusp on article 4, article 5 long and poorly setose, palm oblique, smooth, spinose, defined by slight protrusion and several spines and setae; article 2 of pereopods 3–4 slender, that of pereopod 5 basally expanded and tapering distally; inner ramus of uropod 2 reaching only two-thirds along outer ramus of uropod 3; outer ramus of uropod 3 over twice as long as peduncle, inner ramus slightly less than half as long as outer ramus, thus resembling Melita, uropod 3 exceeding extent of uropods 1–2 by more than length of telson; telson with only middle spine present on each apex.

JUVENILE, 2.5 MM.—Inner ramus 80 percent as long as outer ramus on uropod 3 but rami exceeding uropod 2 by more than length of telson, lateral telsonic spine about half as long as medial, article 2 of pereopod 3 slender, but that of pereopods 4–5 becoming expanded.

YOUNG ADULT, 4.5 MM.—Rami of uropod 3 like those of adult, with inner ramus nearly as long as outer, uropod 3 exceeding uropod 2 by half length of telson.

HOLOTYPE.—Bishop Museum collections, catalog number 7276, female, 6.3 mm.

TYPE-LOCALITY.—JLB Hawaii 2, off W end of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, 4–5 m, encrustations from sand reef, 29 January 1967.

MATERIAL.—Twelve specimens from the type-locality.

DISTRIBUTION.—Hawaiian Islands.

Maera pacifica Schellenberg

Maera pacifica Schellenberg, 1938, pp. 42–45, figs. 19, 20.—J. L. Barnard, 1965a, p. 511.

DIAGNOSIS OF MALE.—Lateral cephalic lobes softly rounded, scarcely quadratiform, anteroventral cephalic corner produced as narrow sharp tooth; eyes subcircular, bright to brownish-purple in alcohol; upper lip lobate as in “Linguimaera” (Pirlot, 1936); coxa 1 weakly extended, setose and rounded anteroventrally, coxa 2 very narrow anteroposteriorly, anterior coxae lacking posteroventral notch; gnathopod 1 of medium stoutness, article 6 ovatorectangular, palm oblique and convex, equal to posterior margin of article 6, defined by tiny sharp cusp and spine, article 5 with several medial rows of diverse setal spines, article 4 lacking posterodistal cusp; gnathopod 2 occasionally of slightly different size on each side, very large, article 2 with medium-sized anterodistal lobe, article 3 with similar lobe, article 4 unextended posterodistally, article 5 very short, with long tumid posterior lobe, article 6 very large, subrectangular, slightly expanded distally, palm transverse, defined by large tooth-bearing spine, tooth adjacent to small sinus, palm spinose and very weakly scalloped and with 1 medium-sized excavation near middle, dactyl fitting palm and occasionally with inner acclivity fitting excavation; article 2 of pereopods 3–5 ovate, posteroventral lobes broad; dactyls of pereopods 1–5 with strong distal constriction bearing sharp defining corner and armed with stout seta-bearing flange, sharp nail with large acute accessory tooth, facial setule, constriction also bearing stout setule appressed to margin of nail, locking spines straight and slightly pectinate; pereopods 4–5 stout, article 4 of pereopod 3 very tumid; pleonal epimera 1–3 with slightly convex posterior margins and small to medium-sized posteroventral tooth, that of epimeron 1 especially sharp, epimera ventrally spinose, 1–2 with lateral ridge; pleonites dorsally smooth; uropod 3 not or slightly exceeding extent of uropods 1–2, rami flat, of medium breadth or narrow, apically truncate and spinose, inner ramus very slightly shorter man outer, latter with thin article 2; telson deeply but not fully cleft, with strongly fixed medial gap, lobes with medium-sized or small medial cusp but not bifid, armed with 3–5 spines on each lobe, at least 3 spines as long as telson.

FEMALE.—Gnathopod 2 slightly smaller than in male, palm lacking incision and slightly more strongly scalloped; coxa 2 of normal dimensions.

VARIATIONS.—Occasional individuals have one or two of the six members of pereopods 3–5 with narrow article 2 like M. quadrimana, but most of these appear to be the result of regeneration of legs accidentally lost.

MATERIAL.—JLB Hawaii 6 (?2), 13 (4), 14 (6), 17 (4). Fee 1 (2).

DISTRIBUTION.—Southern Polynesia, Micronesia, Hawaiian Islands.