ZOOLOGICAL Studies recently published a paper introducing a new freshwater crab species discovered in the city, called Megapleonum Shenzhen, another new species named after Shenzhen, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Ecology Environment Bureau.

The discovery also marked the first research on the diversity of large aquatic invertebrates in Shenzhen’s mountains and streams, said Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.

Megapleonum Shenzhen is said to be the second member of the genus Megapleonum Huang, Shih & Ahyong, and is also an endemic species of Shenzhen.

Megapleonum Huang, Shih & Ahyong is a new genus created by Huang Chao and his collaborators in 2018, based on a model species called Megapleonum ehuangzhang Huang, Shih & Ahyong from Yangjiang, Guangdong.

The most notable feature of the genus Megapleonum Huang, Shih & Ahyong is that the male freshwater crabs have wide abdomens, unlike others who have triangular shaped ones.

Although Megapleonum Shenzhen is similar in appearance to Megapleonum ehuangzhang Huang, Shih & Ahyong, the shape of the male’s first abdominal limb, an important taxonomic indicator, is quite different from that of the latter.

Related DNA analysis also proved Megapleonum Shenzhen as a separate species. Meanwhile, the newly discovered crab species was currently spotted only at streams at an altitude of about 100 meters in Paiyang Mountain, Luwutian Reservoir and Maluan Mountain.

In addition to the description of the new species, the paper also includes contents on the hillstream decapods crustaceans of Shenzhen.

The diversity of hillstream crabs and shrimps is reportedly an important indicator of the health of a hillstream ecological system. In 2017, Shenzhen launched a comprehensive investigation into its terrestrial ecology, according to the report.

The other species named after Shenzhen include Shenzhen Anyphaonidae, a spider species, and Crepidomanes shenzhenense, a filmy fern species.  

(Wang Jingli)