Descriptions of galatheids collected from coral reefs of the Ryukyu Islands (Crustacea, Anomura)

For the last four or five years we have collected a considerable number of galatheid specimens from the Ryukyu Islands. All of the specimens, distributed among seven species, exclusively belong to the genus Galathea and do not include deep-sea forms because the collectings were limited in the coral reefs. Up to now only four species have been reported from the Ryukyu Islands (Stimpson, 1858; Ortmann, 1892; Miyake, 1953). In the present paper four were newly recorded and two others were described as new to science. The colorations were fully described. On the habitat, it is of interest to note that all the specimens were obtained among the branches of dead corals in tide-marks, where in almost all the cases hippolytid shrimps (chiefly Saron) were found to live with. Before going further, we wish to express our gratitude to Prof. Kazuo Koba of Kumamoto University, who kindly took one of us to make scientific expeditions to Amami-oshima Island in 1964 and 1965, and afforded us facilities to this study. Our thanks are also due to Mr. H. Minei of the Zoological Laboratory, Kyushu University for providing us with the materials upon which this paper is mainly based