A new species of freshwater crab, genus Kingsleya Ortmann, 1897 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Pseudothelphusidae), from the remote southern Guyana

Abstract

Only one species of the genus Kingsleya Ortmann, 1897, was known from Guyana. An expedition of the Rapid Biological Assessment Program conducted in the Konashen Community Owned Conservation Area in the upper Essequibo River basin in the southern tip of the country, resulted in the discovery of an undescribed species of this genus, which is described, illustrated and phylogenetic contextualized herein. The new species, supported by morphological and molecular evidences, belongs to Kingsleya mainly due to distinctive features of the first male gonopod (G1). The new species is molecularly compared with sequences of some congeners and, based on a single marker and reduced set of samples, is positioned close to K. attenboroughi. When compared with its closest congeners, the new species can be distinguished by a suite of characters of the G1, especially the narrow proximal portion of the apical plate’s mesial margin, the apical plate’s mesial lamella much shorter than the lateral lamella and strongly recurved apically at about 90º in lateral view, and the transverse positioning of the short field of apical spines. A comparative analysis of the new species with congeners is made and zoogeographic aspects concerning the Kingsleya species from northern South America are briefly discussed.