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Squilla affinis Berthold.
Squilla affinis Berthold, Abhandl. k. Gesellsch. Wiss. Gottihgen, vol. 3, p. 26, 1845; Bigelow, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 17, p. 538, fig. 22, 1895 (with synonymy). S. oratoria De Haan, Siebold's Fauna Japon. Crust., p. 223, 1850; Stebbing, South African Crustacea, pt. 4, p. 44, 1908. S. nepa Miers, Cat. N.Z. Crust., p. 89, 1876, and Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), vol. 5, p. 25, 1880 (in part); Chilton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 23, p. 60, 1891.
Bigelow has pointed out that under the name Squilla nepa two species have been confused. These species differ mainly in the eyes, one form having them small and with the corneal axis about three-fouths the length of the perpendicular one and at right angles to it, while in the other the eyes are large, triangular, with the corneal axis oblique and as long as or longer than the perpendicular one. The form with the smaller eyes he considers to be the true S. nepa Latreille, while the other form he assigns to S. affinis Berthold. Mr. Stebbing upholds. S. oratoria De Haan as prior to S. affinis Berthold, and therefore the correct name for the species.
Squilla nepa was recorded from Auckland by Heller, but there has been nothing to indicate which of these two species was intended, and up till the present time no further specimen has been obtained by local collectors, and consequently the occurrence of this species in New Zealand has been considered doubtful.
Fig. 3.—Squilla affinis. Telson
Among the Squillidae in the Dominion Museum kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. Hamilton there is a single dried specimen which, though imperfect, evidently belongs to S. affinis Berthold as described by Bigelow. The eyes are imperfect, but there is sufficient of them left to show that they
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were large, triangular, and with the corneal axis oblique, while the carinae on the carapace agree precisely with the description and figure given by Bigelow, and in themselves are sufficient to show that the specimen belongs to S. affinis and not to S. nepa The specimen also agree with his description in all the other characters that can be still seen. Unfortunately, the exact locality of this specimen is not known.
The species S. affinis is known from various localities in Japan and also from Hong Kong, and its occurrence in New Zealand indicates a distribution similar to that of numerous other marine Crustacea.
The species is described by Bigelow as follows: “A Squilla with large triangular eyes, the corneal axis being oblique and as long as or usually longer than the peduncular one and 0·05 times the length of the body; the outer margin of the dactylus of the raptorial claw not sinuate or only slightly so; 6 teeth on the dactylus; the rostrum slightly truncated, and supplied with marginal carinae and a median tubercle; 5 carinae on the carapace, the median one not bifurcated for more than one-fourth its length, and the lateral ones continued into the anterior lateral spines, which do not reach as far forward as the suture between the rostrum and carapace, the posterior lateral angles evenly rounded; no ventral spine on the first exposed thoracic segment, its lateral processes and those of the next two segments bilobed as in S. nepa; submedian carinae present on all except the first segments of the hind-body; crest, keel, and symmetrical lines of pits on the telson and 6 marginal spines, 8 basal carinae, and between the former 4 to 5 submedian, 7 to 9 intermediate, and 1 lateral denticle.”
I give a figure representing the telson. (See fig. 3.)
Fig. 4.—Lysiosquilla spinosa: Telson and uropod.