Squat lobsters of the genus Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1874 (Decapoda: Anomura: Munidopsidae) from seamounts on the Nishi-Shichito and Mariana ridges, north-west Pacific off Japan, with descriptions of two new species

We studied material of squat lobsters of the genus Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1874 (Munidopsidae) from the recent cruise of R/V Kaimei (KM 20-10C) of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology carried out on the Nishi-Shichito and Mariana ridges in the Japanese marine protected areas (MPAs). Two species new to science were identified: Munidopsis juxtapallida sp. nov. and M. lignicola sp. nov. The third species, M. spinifrons Dong, Xu, Li & Wang, 2019, heretofore known only from the Weijia Guyot, Northwest Pacific, was also identified.

Differentiation of the three species is based on morphological comparison and molecular phylogenetic analysis using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene sequences. For future studies, the sequence data of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene of these three species are also provided.