hians, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal; Borneo; 

 Torres Strait, northern Australia; Manila, Philip- 

 pine Islands; Japan (2 collections) ; Platyhelone 

 argahis, Aldabra Island, Indian Ocean; Mai-shall 

 Islands (4 collex-tions) ; Tokelau Islands (2 col- 

 lections) ; Fakaofo Atoll (2 collections) ; Christ- 

 mas Island; Line Islands; Fanning Island; Rose 

 Island, Samoan Islands; Apia, Samoa (2 collec- 

 tions) ; Tylosurus a/nis, Taiwan; Tylosurus croco- 

 dihis, Red Sea; Zanzibar; Seychelles Islands; 

 Nosy Be, Madagascar; Kerala, India; Cavite, 

 Philippine Islands; Bellona Island, British Solo- 

 mon Islands. 



Female. — Body form as in figure 99 (after 

 Shiino, 1957). This species was well described by 

 Shiino (as Bomolochus gibber) in 1957, and addi- 

 tional notes were provided by Vervoort in 1962. No 

 additional description is necessary here except to 

 point out two characters not considered by the 

 aforementioned authors which may have some 

 taxonomic value: the maxilliped (fig. 100) termi- 

 nal claw is angular, the distal half nearly at a right 

 angle to the base, and the area between the coxo- 

 pods of leg 1 (fig. 101) has a pad with surface 

 corrugations as indicated in figure. 



Remarks. — Tliis species is common in the Indo- 

 Pacific region and only occasionally fomid in the 

 Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. 



Nothobotnolochus digitatus Cressey, New Species 



Figures 102 to 112 



Specimens studied. — Fourteen collections con- 

 taining 28 females from four species of needle- 

 fishes, all from the Indo-West Pacific area as fol- 

 lows: Strongylura leiura.. Gulf of Thailand; 

 Panay, Philippines (2 collections) ; Java; Stron- 

 gylura strongyhira, Calicut, India ; Bombay, India 

 (3 collections) ; Malaysia (2 collections) ; Hong 

 Kong; Australia; Philippines; Tylosurus ci'oco- 

 dilus., British North Borneo; Tylosurus punotu- 

 lafus, New Guinea. 



Holotype female (USNM 125698) and two para- 

 type females (USNM 125699) from a specimen 

 of Strongylura strongylura (SU 32879) from Pe- 

 nang, Malaysia. 



Female. — Body form as in figure 102. Total 

 length 1,800 fi. Greatest width 1,200 /x. Caudal rami 

 (fig. 103) longer than wide (66 fihy 44 fi) with 

 one long terminal seta (413 /*) , three subterminal 

 short setae, and one lateral seta. First antenna (fig. 

 104) with three stout, modified setae of equal 



length on basal segment; each seta with a hyaline 

 tip, other setae as in other members of tlie genus. 

 Second antenna as in P. gibber. Labrum (fig. 105) 

 with two rings of blunt spinules on surface. Man- 

 dible (fig. 106) terminating in two short bladelike 

 processes, each with a fringe along one edge. Par- 

 agnath (fig. 107) with nine fingerlike terminal 

 processes, each with a bulbous tip. In view of the 

 striking difference between the paragnaths of 

 gibber and digitattis this structure is of great, in- 

 terest and taxonomic importance. First maxilla 

 (fig. 108) bearing three long plumose setae and a 

 shorter naked one. Second maxilla (fig. 109) end- 

 ing as a long bladelike process with a stout basal 

 seta. Arrangement of mouth parts as in figure 105. 

 Maxilliped (fig. 110) with terminal claw slightly 

 recurved, not angular. Area between coxopods of 

 leg 1 (fig. Ill) with wreathlike fringe as in figure. 

 Spine and seta formulas for legs 1 to 4 follow : 



Leg 5 (fig. 112) similar to that of other members 

 of the genus ; two outer terminal spines with very 

 fine spinules on inner margin, patch of spinules 

 near base of terminal spines heavier than in N. 

 gibber. Ijeg 6 absent. 



Egg sacs about 1 mm. long and containing 60 to 

 75 eggs. 



Color in preserved specimens, cream. 



Male. — Unknown. 



Etytnohgy. — The word digitatus refers to the 

 fingerlike processes on the paragnath. 



Remarks. — This species can be separated from 

 all other species except N. saetiger (Wilson) and 

 N. lateolahricus (Yamaguti and Yamasu) by the 

 nature of the first antenna: the three modified 

 spines on the first segment are of equal length, 

 whereas in all other species they are not. The new 

 species can be separated from N. saetiger and 

 N. lateolnbricxis by the nature of the i)ai'agnath. In 

 N. saetiger and N. lateolabnc-u-H the paragnath is 

 a bladelike structure, whereas in N. digitatus it 

 bears nine fingerlike processes at its distal end. 



This species is known only from Indo-West 

 Pacific needlefishes. 



374 



U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



