Athanas dorsalis

Athanas dorsalis (Stimpson, 1860)

Arete dorsalis Stimpson, 1860:32 [type locality: Lyemun Strait, Hong Kong; among sublittoral rocks].

Arete dorsalis var. Pacificus Coutière, 1903:87, fig. 30 [type locality: Hong Kong(?), Samoa, New Caledonia, Central America (“sans indic. de versant”)].

Arete Maruteensis Coutière, 1905:864 [type locality: Marutea, Tuamotu Archipelago].

Arete maruteensis, var. salibabuensis De Man, 1910:313 [type locality: anchorage off Lirung, Palau Salebabu, Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia; to 36 meters].

DIAGNOSIS.—Rostrum usually not overreaching 2nd antennular segment; orbit without supracorneal tooth, with extracorneal tooth, and without infracorneal tooth; major cheliped with chela compressed, not subcylindrical, merus not deeply excavate on flexor surface, carpus shorter than palm in mature female; 2nd pereopod with 4 carpal articles; 3rd pereopod with dactyl biunguiculate, about as long as propodus; maximum carapace length to base of rostrum about 6 mm.

RANGE.—There is little doubt that A. dorsalis occurs throughout the Indo-Pacific area from the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Japan, Australia, and eastward to the Tuamotu Archipelago. Coutière (1899:544) mentioned a specimen from the West Indies and (1903:86–88) included Central America in the range, but both of these extensions need confirmation. The Smithsonian Philippine Expedition of 1978 collected two specimens of A. dorsalis at the Cayo Islands, northern Sulu Sea. This shrimp frequents reef flats and rather shallow sublittoral depths; it is commonly, perhaps obligatorily, associated with echinoderms, usually echinoids.