Thacanophrys longispinus

(de Haan, 1839)

The dorsal surface of carapace uneven and covered everywhere with curled hairs, armed with long knobbed spines in regular arrangement, viz. the gastric region with two in the median line, cardiac region with two side by side with their bases united, intestinal region with two in the median line, branchial region with two near the lateral angle.
The pseudorostral spines are less than one third the length of the carapace and are much widely divergent and curved outward, their tips being knobbed. The supraocular eave has two anterior and one posterior spine; the intercalated spine thin and very acuminate; the postocular tooth has an accessory lobule on the outer border near the tip so that it appears as bifid. The hepatic region has usually two lateral and three or four ventral tubercles. Basal segment of antenna is armed with a proximal tooth on the outer border and with two strong terminal teeth.
The arm of chelipeds is sharply crested on the upper and lower borders, the crest being divided into four to five laminar denticles; wrist with its upper and outer borders cristate; palm also with its upper and lower edges strongly cristate, the former being dentate near the proximal end. Ambulatory legs are densely covered with hairs, which help the animal to attach various sea weeds or sponges for the purpose of protection. The merus is armed with a terminal spine, which is knobbed as usual. (Sakai, 1938: 308)

Type locality: Japan.
Range: Mozambique (Bouvier, 1906b); Providence Islands (Rathbun, 1911); Amirante Islands (Miers, 1884b); India - Madras coast (Alcock, 1895a); Sri Lanka (Alcock, 1895a); Andaman Sea (Alcock, 1895a); Japan - (de Haan, 1837), Sagami Bay and Tokyo Bay (Ortmann, 1893), Shimoda (Sakai, 1935), Kamakura, Manazuru, Shimoda, Nanki Shirahama, Gobo and Nagasaki (Sakai, 1938a), Sagami Bay (Sakai, 1965b), from Tokyo Bay southward to Kyushu (Sakai, 1976a), Amakusa (Yamaguchi et al., 1976), Mage-jima, Kagoshima Prefecture (Takeda, 1977b); Korea - Cheju-do (Kim, 1973); Taiwan; Philippines - Romblon (Griffin, 1976); Sulu Archipelago - Jolo, Siasi and Tawitawi Group (Griffin, 1976), Pulu Tongkil and Jolo (Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); Indonesia - Java, Selat Sunda, Seram, Kepulauan Kai and Aru (Griffin & Tranter, 1986a); Australia - Port Molle (Haswell, 1882b), Moreton Bay (Campbell & Stephenson, 1970); 10-150 m.

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