Rimicaris kairei

Martin, Joel W. & Haney, Todd A., 2005, Decapod crustaceans from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps: a review through 2005, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (4), pp. 445-522 : 469

RIMICARIS KAIREI WATABE & HASHIMOTO, 2002

Type locality: Indian Ocean , Central Indian Ridge, Kairei Field; 25°19.16′S, 70°02.40′E; 2454 m .

Known range: limited to the type locality (Kairei vent field) and the Edmonds vent field (approximately 160 km NNW of the Kairei field), Indian Ocean, 2415– 3320 m ( Van Dover et al., 2001; Watabe & Hashimoto, 2002).

Material: type locality; KR00-05 Indian Ocean Cruise ( JMSTC), ROV Kaiko, dive 10K#168; 26 August 2000; suction sampler, hydraulically driven; NSMT-Cr- 14112 ( holotype male), JMSTC 032688 ( paratypes, 1 male, 1 female); MNHN-Na 13797 ( paratypes, 1 male, 1 female); NSMT-Cr 14113 ( paratypes, 1 male, 1 female), USNM 2026541 ( paratypes, 1 male, 1 female), ZRC 2001.1053 ( paratypes, 1 male, 1 female) ( Watabe & Hashimoto, 2002) .

Remarks: This species, first mentioned by Hashimoto et al. (2001) and reported as Rimicaris aff. exoculata by Van Dover et al. (2001: 820–822, fig. 2A, B, G), is morphologically extremely similar to R. exoculata from the MAR systems ( T. Komai, pers. comm.). Indeed, some of the morphological characters proposed by Watabe & Hashimoto (2002) for separating the two species – length of the antennal flagella and stoutness of the third to fifth pereiopods – now appear to be unreliable because of overlap of morphological variation, although other slight differences (e.g. the higher number of tufts of dense setae on the carapace of R. exoculata ) do exist ( T. Komai, pers. comm.). Van Dover et al. (2001) compared mtCOI gene sequences from specimens collected at the Kairei and Edmonds vents and found essentially no differences; only slight differences were detected between R. kairei and R. exoculata from the MAR sites. Trophic relationships among Kairei vent invertebrates including this species were addressed by Van Dover (2002a).