Uroptychus bispinatus
Uroptychus bispinatus. Image credit: Rob Stewart, NIWA, photographed during voyage TAN1104 Ocean Survey 20/20 - NZASMS
'Uroptychus bispinatus' Baba, 1988 is a known species from the tropical western Pacific and it’s a new record to New Zealand. These squat lobsters are typically deep-sea organisms and associated with large gorgonian corals.
After nearly 10 years, the NIWA Biodiversity Memoir on the squat lobster superfamily Chirostyloidea is nearly complete. It provides detailed information for three families, eight genera and a total of 83 species of squat lobsters in the New Zealand region. Twenty-five of these are new to science, and presumed New Zealand endemics, and 28 are new records to the region. Once published, this NIWA publication will nearly triple the number of species known in our waters.