Bull. Natn. Sci. Mus., Tokyo, Ser. A, 30(1), pp. 23–35, March 22, 2004 On a Collection of Mursia (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Calappidae) from Balicasag Island, Philippines Bella Galil1 and Masatsune Takeda2 1 National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, P. O.B. 8030, Haifa 31080, Israel e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Department of Zoology, National Science Museum, 3–23–1 Hyakunincho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169–0073 Japan e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract Collections of the deep water calappid crab genus Mursia at the National Science Mu- seum, Tokyo, and the National Museum of the Philippines assembled between 1994 and 2003 off Balicasag Island, Philippines, have been studied. Six species have been identified, of which four are new: M. baconaua, M. buwaya, M. diwata, and M. mameleu. The new species are described, photographed and illustrated. Key words : Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Calappidae, Mursia, new species, Philippines additional four new species named M. baconaua, Introduction M. buwaya, M. diwata, and M. mameleu. In the In February 2003, the junior author had a following pages the new species are described, chance to visit Balicasag Island, Bohol, Philip- photographed and illustrated. The specimens are pines. With the help of Mrs. M. R. Manuel of the deposited in the National Science Museum, National Museum of the Philippines, he conduct- Tokyo (NSMT), the National Museum of the ed a research of the National Science Museum, Philippines (NMCR), and the Muséum National Tokyo, entitled “Natural History Researches of d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN). the Island Arcs in the Western Pacific.” Among In the descriptions of the new species, the the crab specimens collected by local shell fisher- carapace length, measured along the vertical me- men using tangle nets to depths of 400 m, there dian line of the carapace, is abbreviated to CL.