Ebalia cryptocnemoides

Takeda & Miyake, 1972

Description of holotype: The carapace is more or less rounded pentagonal, or rather circular in outline; the dorsal surface is naked, polished and strongly convex in both directions; the regions are obliterated except for the cardiac one which is weakly produced and somewhat conical. The hepatic expansion is small but moderately convex and more or less triangular with an obtuse apex, being thin and cristiform. The antero-lateral, postero-lateral and posterior borders are entirely continuous and fringed with a lamellar expansion that is anteriorly separated from each of the hepatic expansions by a shallow small notch in the dorsal view; the margin of the thin expansion is somewhat upturned, most prominently so near and at the posterior border. The front is divided into four subequal teeth by a median U-shaped sinus; in the dorsal view the inner two teeth are more or less dentiform, while the outer two are obtuse at the tips; two supraorbital closed fissures are distinct, and the inner one is somewhat larger and more distinct.
The chelipeds are slender and almost naked only with sparse short, fine hairs, being twice as long as the carapace. The merus, carpus and propodus are subcylindrical, and their borders are thick. The fingers are as long as the palm and rather strongly bent downwards; each cutting edge is cut into minute teeth throughout the length, several of which are more prominent and sharper than the others; the tips are strongly crossed to each other.
The ambulatory legs are slender and nearly naked only with sparse short, fine hairs. The anterior border of the merus is very indistinctly serrated with a series of low obscure prominences. In the first two pairs each of the propodi bears a low laminar process near the distal end of the lower border; in the propodus of the third pair it may be possibly traceable, but almost indistinct, while the propodus of the last pair is entirely devoid of it. Each of the dactyli is slightly longer than the propodus.
The abdomen is composed of four pieces, and its formula is 1+2+R+T; the proximal segment is almost linear, most of the part being hidden under the carapace; at the median proximal end of the coalescent segment is a tubercle which is composed of two high laminae on a base; the terminal segment is slender and slightly exceeds half the length of the coalescent segment, the apex being sharply pointed. The second pleopod is protruded from the tip of the first, curving strongly in the middle together with the first. (Takeda & Miyake, 1972a)

Type locality: off Tsushima, Japan, 34°16'N, 129°31.5'E, 105 m.
Range: Japan - off Tsushima (Takeda & Miyake, 1972a, Takeda, 1973c); 105 m.

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