Taxonomic revision of two dominant Munidopsis species (Decapoda, Anomura, Munidopsidae) from the cold seeps in the northern South China Sea: new records and complementary descriptions

Munidopsis species represent some of the dominant macrobenthos in cold seep habitats of the northern South China Sea. Earlier studies documented high abundances of M. verrilli Benedict, 1902 at Site F cold seep and M. lauensis Baba & de Saint Laurent, 1992 at Haima cold seep. However, comparative morphological and genetic analysis of additional materials from the deep waters of California, Manus Basin, and southern Okinawa Trough now indicate that those specimens in the South China Sea require taxonomic revision: the specimens at Site F should be M. longispinosa Cubelio, Tsuchida & Watanabe, 2007 and the specimens at Haima cold seep belong to M. ryukyuensis Cubelio, Tsuchida & Watanabe, 2007.

Complementary descriptions of M. ryukyuensis, M. longispinosa and M. verrilli, as well as their geographic distributions, are provided to facilitate future identification.