A new species of spiny lobster, Palinurus barbarae (Decapoda, Palinuridae) from walters shoals on the Madagascar Ridge

A new species of spiny lobster, Palinurus barbarae, is described from catches made at Walters Shoals, a high-seas submerged seamount on the Madagascar Ridge, south-western Indian Ocean. Morphology and mitochondrial DNA analyses place the species closest to Palinurus delagoae, which is found in deep-shelf waters off South Africa and Mozambique. The carapace of P. barbarae is more spinose than that of R delagoae, and the posterior carapace rim terminates in a smooth groove and raised angular lip (groove absent in P. delagoae). Spine counts on antennal peduncles and pleural edges of abdominal somites further differentiate between the two species. Our findings cast some doubt on the present taxonomic classification of Palinurus in the south-western Indian Ocean, particularly on the status of the Palinurus spp. from southern Madagascar, approximately 400 nautical miles north of Walters Shoals.