A new species of Hephthopelta Alcock, 1899 (Crustacea: Brachyura: Chasmocarcinidae) from deep water off north-eastern Queensland, Australia

A new species of deep water chasmocarcinid, Hephthopelta potens, is described from off north-eastern Queensland. It differs from its congeners by a combination of characters, including carapace shape and proportions, the structure of the abdomen and gonopods, and most obviously by the greatly swollen major chela of adult males. q Crustacea, Brachyura, Chasmocarcinidae, deep water, Indo-West Pacific, new species. In the late 1980s and early 1990s several cruises were undertaken off northern Queensland investi -gating deep water faunal community composition and biodiversity. The R.V. Franklin, under the direction of Professor Michel Pichon, carried out three cruises, (CIDARIS I–III), and employed beam trawls, Charcot dredges and sledges on the continental slope of the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland basin (Alongi 1987; Pichon 1987; Richer de Forges 1986). In addition, the CSIRO conducted exploratory deep water trawl ing off north-eastern Queensland during December 1985 and January 1986, using the stern trawler R.V. Soela under the direction of Trevor Ward. Large collections of crustaceans were made during all these cruises and returned to the Queensland Museum. Amongst a number of new species that have been found, is an interesting new species of Hephthopelta Alcock, 1899 (family Chasmocarcinidae), and this is described here. Abbreviations: QM, Queensland Museum, Brisbane; ZRC, Zoological Reference Collection of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. cb, carapace breath; cl, carapace length; G1, G2, male first and second gonopods.