An unusual new species of paguroid (<I>Crustacea, Anomura, Paguridae</I>) from deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

A new hermit crab species of the family Paguridae, Tomopaguropsisahkinpechensis sp. n., is described from deep waters (780-827 m) of the Gulf of Mexico. This is the second species of Tomopaguropsis known from the western Atlantic, and the fifth worldwide. The new species is morphologically most similar to a species from Indonesia, Tomopaguropsiscrinita McLaughlin, 1997, the two having ocular peduncles that diminish in width distally, reduced corneas, dense cheliped setation, and males lacking paired pleopods 1. The calcified figs on the branchiostegite and anterodorsally on the posterior carapace, and the calcified first pleonal somite that is not fused to the last thoracic somite, are unusual paguroid characters. A discussion of the affinities and characters that define this new species is included, along with a key to all five species of Tomopaguropsis.