Family ENOPLOMETOPIDAE de Saint Laurent, 1988

Enoplometopus (Enoplometopus) occidentalis

© Copyright After Chan 1998: 1000

Museums

Regional Maps

• Enoplometopidae de Saint Laurent, M. 1988. Enoplometopoidea, nouvelle superfamille de crustacés decapodes Astacidea. Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles Ser. III. Sci. Vie 307(2): 59-62 [59].

  Type genus:

   Enoplometopus A. Milne Edwards, 1862.

Introduction

Enoplometopids are commonly known as `Reef Lobsters'. Typically, they live on coral or rocky reefs from the shallow subtidal to depths of about 300 metres. They are nocturnal and secretive, and thus are difficult to find and collect. Many are very beautifully coloured and patterned, and are thus popular in the marine aquarium trade, particularly in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Enoplometopus was previously included within the Axiidae, but de Saint Laurent (1988) created both a new family, Enoplometopidae and a new superfamily, Enoplometopoidea, for its reception. The latter taxon does not seem to have found acceptance, with the Nephropoidea used instead by recent authors (see Chan & Yu 1999). Holthuis (1983) split Enoplometopus into two subgenera, with the erection of Hoplometopus. The family is represented in Australia by two species only. Chan (1998), Chan & Yu (1999) and Holthuis (1983) provided keys and illustrations for this and the other species of the broader region

Diagnosis

Moderate- to small-sized lobsters. Body cylindrical, bearing tufts of long, stiff setae. Carapace with well-developed rostrum; eyes well developed and black pigmented; antennae long and thread-like, antennal scale with inner margin unarmed and curved. First pair of pereiopods chelate, greatly enlarged to form robust claws; pereiopods 2–5 slender, subchelate (less distinct in last pair). Abdomen well developed and powerful; pleura more or less rounded, sometimes bearing strong spines; tailfan entirely calcified, telson bearing movable spines, its posterior margin broadly convex. (After Chan 1998).

General References

Chan, T.-Y. 1998. Lobsters. pp. 973-1043 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 2 687-1396 pp.

Chan, T.-Y. & Yu, H.-P. 1998. A new reef lobster of the genus Enoplometopus A. Milne Edwards, 1862 (Decapoda, Nephropoidea) from the western and southern Pacific. Zoosystematica Rossica 20(2): 183-192

de Saint Laurent, M. 1988. Enoplometopoidea, nouvelle superfamille de crustacés decapodes Astacidea. Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles Ser. III. Sci. Vie 307(2): 59-62

Holthuis, L.B. 1983. Notes on the genus Enoplometopus, with descriptions of a new subgenus and two new species (Crustacea Decapoda, Axiidae). Zoologische Mededelingen (Leiden) 56(22): 281-298

History of changes