1913-] S. Kemp: Crustacea Stomatopoda of the Indo-Pacific Region. igi 



24. Gonodactylus spinosissimus, Pfeffer. 



Plate X, figs. 124, 125. 



1888. Gonodactylus spinosissimus , Pfeffer, Mitth. naturli. Mus. Hamburg, VI, 4, p. 35. 



1894. Gonodactyliis spinosissimus, Bigelow, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., XVII, p. 493. 



1906. Gonodactylus spinosissimus, Nobili, Ann. Sei. Nat. Zool. (9), IV, p. 326. 



1906. Protosquilla spinosissima , Tattersall, Ceylon Pearl Oyster Rep., V, p. 173, pi. ii, fig. 19. 



The carapace is widest posteriorly and is a little longer than its greatest breadth. 

 Its posterior margin and the anterior edges on either side of the rostral base are con- 

 cave. The antero-lateral angles are subacute. The rostrum is sharply trispinous ; 

 the median spine is more than three times as long as the proximal undivided part and 

 extends to the cornea of the eyes ; the outer spines are much shorter and reach a little 

 beyond the- base of the stalk. 



The dorsal processes of the ophthalmic somite are clearly visible between the 

 rostral spines and resemble those of G. pulchellus, their acute antero-lateral angles ex- 

 tending outwards almost to the external margin of the eyestalk. The eyes are flat- 

 tened ; the cornea is wider than the stalk, distinctly bilobed, and the corneal and 

 peduncular axes are a little oblique. 



The mandibular palp is composed of two segments. The basal part of the raptorial 

 dactylus is very strongly swollen and its external margin is feebly notched proximally. 



The lateral margins of the sixth and seventh thoracic somites are truncately 

 rounded, the former more broadly than the latter. Except for the customary antero- 

 lateral carinae, the first four abdominal somites are smooth. The postero-lateral angles 

 of the first three are rounded, those of the fourth rounded or subacute, those of the fifth 

 sharply spinous. The fifth somite is smooth in the middle, but bears three or four longi- 

 tudinal carinae on either side separated by furrows. 



The sixth somite is fused with the telson. 1 It bears four large rounded tubercles, 

 a pair of submedians and a pair of laterals, the former situated well in advance of the 

 latter. All four tubercles are beset with long and slender spines and in addition there 

 is a row of similar spines along the anterior and lateral margins and numerous others 

 in the vicinity of the lateral tubercles. 



The telson excluding the spines on the edges is almost as broad as long. The 

 lateral margins are only very slightly convex. The wide and deep median distal 

 emargination is conspicuous, and the apices on either side areicomposed of two subequal 

 lobes separated by a wide notch. The inner of these lobes is narrower than the outer 

 and terminates in a stout spine with a movable spinule on its inner aspect. On the 

 dorsal surface there are three rounded bosses. The median is nearly circular, while 

 the two forming the lateral pair are slightly oval and are situated much further back- 

 wards. All three tubercles bear long and slender spines similar to those on the preced- 

 ing segment, and in addition, others are found investing all the margins and the surface 

 near the tubercles. Those situated between the tubercles and the spinous lateral margin 

 are arranged on either side in two regular longitudinal rows. 



1 More completely so than in any other species examined. 



