Galathea lumaria Baba, 2005

Botha, Thomas P. A., Griffiths, Charles L., Atkinson, Lara J. & Macpherson, Enrique, 2025, The Galatheidae (Anomura: Galatheoidea) of South Africa, with a description of a new species, Zootaxa 5661 (3), pp. 330-350 : 338

Galathea lumaria Baba, 2005

Galathea lumaria Baba, 2005: 78 , 244, figs. 27, 29a (key, synonymies); Macpherson & Robainas-Barcia, 2015: 177 (key, synonymies); Emmerson, 2016a: 26; Emmerson, 2016b: 443 (list); Macpherson et al., 2023: 380.

Global distribution. Madagascar, Mayotte Island, Mozambique, and South Africa; 206–505 m.

South African distribution. Off Durban , KwaZulu-Natal, 412 m ( Fig. 6 ) .

Genetic data. Not available for South African specimens .

Remarks. The enigmatic Galathea lumaria was described from three ovigerous females caught east of Durban in 1929. It was recently collected only for the second time by Macpherson et al. (2023) from Mayotte Island, and so is now known to not be a South African endemic. It was collected along with two other squat lobster species: Gonionida shaula (Macpherson & de Saint Laurent, 2002) and Uroptychus simiae Kensley, 1977 . In South African waters, this species can easily be distinguished based on the long, narrow rostrum with two slender, lateral spines.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Marine ecoregions in South African waters (Sink et al. 2019) with distribution of species in the genus Galathea superimposed.