Four new freshwater crab species of the genus Megapleonum Huang, Shih & Ahyong, 2018 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Potamidae) from Guangdong, China

By

Huang, Chao
Shih, Hsi-Te
Ahyong, Shane T.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-7-2

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1244

Pages

1--27

Subjects

16S rDNA , aquatic species , China , new taxa , systematics

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1244.148112

 

Abstract

Four new species of the poorly known genus Megapleonum Huang, Shih & Ahyong, 2018, are described from Guangdong Province, China: Megapleonum falxsp. nov. from Huizhou City, M. yangdongensesp. nov. from Yangjiang City, and both M. ferrumequinumsp. nov. and M. wangjianisp. nov. from Maoming City. These four new species are all morphologically and genetically distinct from each other and the two known congeners Megapleonum ehuangzhang Huang, Shih & Ahyong, 2018 and Megapleonum shenzhen Huang & Mao, 2021. The extremely divergent morphology of the gonopod 1 of these species alone immediately sets them apart, but there are also distinct differences in other characters, including the carapace, ambulatory leg, and maxilliped 3 exopod flagellum. A phylogeny constructed using the mitochondrial 16S rDNA reveals that all species of Megapleonum form a deep-rooted monophyletic group with significant interspecific genetic distances, supporting the generic placement and specific treatments of these new taxa. A key to the species of Megapleonum is also provided.