40 



ALLAN HANCOCK ATLANTIC EXPEDITION 



REPORT 



1959). Schmitt is the only worker who has intensively studied the 

 American species of the genus, and he described two varieties of G. 

 oerstedii from the Caribbean. G. oerstedii var. spinulosus Schmitt, 1924 

 (a), was described from Barbados, and differs from G. oerstedii in 

 that the dorsal surface of the telson is spinulose. The second variety, 

 G. oerstedii var. curacaoensis Schmitt, 1924, was described from Cur- 

 asao, and was separated from G. oerstedii because the three carinae 

 of the telson were sharp and spined posteriorly, not swollen dorsally 

 and rounded posteriorly as in the typical form. 



CARINAE OF LAST 

 ABDOMINAL SOMITE 



Submedlarx 

 later mediate 

 Lateral 



CARINAE OF TELSON 



Median 



Intermediate 



Lateral. 



Maig'iaal 



Sabmediaa 



Accessory 



Anchor - not alujays developed 



Knob 



Crest or ridcce of submediain tootK 



TEETH OF TELSON 



Lateral 



Intermediate 



Submedian 



Plate 10. Diagrammatic illustration of a Gonodactylus telson, showing terms used 

 in the descriptions (from Schmitt, 1940). 



In my opinion, both are good species. G. spinulosus is the western 

 Atlantic counterpart of G. festae and its allies from the eastern Pacific. 

 G. curacaoensis, in addition to the shape of the dorsal carinae of the 

 telson, has the telson longer than wide and has an entirely different 

 color pattern from G. oerstedii. I have seen freshly preserved material 

 from Cay Sal Bank (UMML) in which there was no evidence of the 

 mottled color normally found in G. oerstedii] the specimens are a bright 

 orange, with the carinae of the telson striped blue longitudinally; the 

 thoracic and abdominal somites are lined posteriorly with red. Schmitt 

 (1924) did not give specific rank to G. curacaoensis because the juve- 



