Panda shrimp (Melita panda), a black-and-white species of Melitidae (Crustacea, Amphipoda) from Japan

NEWS - A new member of the intertidal species Melita Leach, 1814 (Melitidae, Amphipoda), panda shrimp (Melita panda), was collected from Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The researchers used nuclear 28S rRNA and mitochondrial COI gene analyses to support that the new species is closely related to M. koreana and M. nagatai.

Melita is found in marine, brackish and freshwater environments and includes 63 species worldwide, of which 16 have been recorded in Japan. In the 1990s, Shigeyuki Yamato discovered an unidentified specimen of the distinctive black-and-white coloration in the intertidal zone of Wakayama Prefecture.

Recently, a large number of specimens have been collected by Ko Tomikawa of Hiroshima University and Hiroyuki Ariyama of the Osaka Museum of Natural History. Detailed morphological analysis revealed that these specimens have not been described before. Molecular phylogenetic analysis has been used to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships among Melita species.

M. panda differs from M. koreana in having a black-and-white body coloration (vs. almost entirely gray), an anterodistal projection of the propodus of male gnathopod 1 that covers the dactylus (vs. not covering it completely), a propodus of male gnathopod 1 with three and one setae on the posterior edge and at the base of the anterodistal projection (vs. lacking but with a seta at the palmar corner) and a telson with lateral setae (vs. lacking).

M. panda differs from M. nagatai in having a black-and-white body color (vs. almost entirely gray), lacking setae at the base of the maxilla 1 of the palp article 1 (vs. having setae), having an anterodistal projection of the propodus of male gnathopod 1 that covers the dactylus (vs. not completely covering), propodus of male gnathopod 1 with three and one setae at the posterior edge and base of the anterodistal projection (vs. lacking but having setae at the palmar angle) and having a telson with lateral setae (vs. not having).

M. panda differs from M. bingoensis in having urosomite 2 with three (vs. having two) setae on each side, anterodistal projection of the propodus of male gnathopod 1 covering the dactylus (vs. not completely covering), coxa of female pereopod 6 deeper than wide (vs. wider than deep) and telson with lateral setae (vs. absent).

The researchers did not include M. bingoensis in the molecular phylogenetic analysis, but its morphological similarities also suggest it is phylogenetically close to M. panda. The new species gets its name from its black-and-white body color, which resembles the giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca.

Original research

Tomikawa K, Yamato S, Ariyama H (2024). Melita panda, a new species of Melitidae (Crustacea, Amphipoda) from Japan. ZooKeys 1212: 267-283, DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1212.128858

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