Reports of Galathea Fabricius, 1793 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Galatheidae) from Chinese waters, with descriptions of two new species

Eighteen species of the galatheid genus Galathea Fabricius, 1793 from Chinese waters are reported in the present paper based on material in the collection of the Marine Biological Museum (MBM) in the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao (IOCAS), including two new species (G. babai n. sp., G. sinensis n. sp.) and eight species new to Chinese waters (G. anepipoda Baba, 1990, G. consobrina De Man, 1902, G. coralliophilus Baba & Oh, 1990, G. guttata Osawa, 2004, G. inconspicua Henderson, 1885, G. pilosa De Man, 1888, G. ternatensis De Man, 1902, and G. whiteleggii Grant & McCulloch, 1906). Galathea babai n. sp. can be distinguished from all the other congeneric species by the presence of a strong median protogastric spine. Galathea sinensis is distinguished from its nearest congener, G. multilineata, by having more numerous transverse striae on the carapace, the lateral margin of the carapace with only one instead of four spines behind the posterior cervical groove, the P1 fingers distally ending in incurved spines that cross when occluded (instead of being spooned), and a much shorter cheliped (especially the carpus length relative to breadth). To date, 26 species of Galathea Fabricius, 1793 have been recorded from Chinese waters, including the two new species.