species: Lysiosquillina maculata in Lizard Island area: all known taxa (Lizard Island Field Guide)
Lysiosquillina maculata


©Damaris Torres-Pulliza: Lysiosquillina maculata, rarely seen outside its burrow, at Mangrove Beach, Lizard Island.

©Mark Shepherd: Lysiosquillina maculata at the entrance to its burrow in Watson's Bay, Lizard Island. Note white spots on the eyes.

©Roy Caldwell: Lysiosquillina maculata male (top) and female (bottom)
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Malacostraca
Order Stomatopoda
Family Lysiosquillidae
Genus Lysiosquillina
Species Lysiosquillina maculata

Colours

                        

Distinguishing features

The largest stomatopod, reaching 40 cm in length. Lives in monogamous pairs in deep u-shaped burrows in shallow sandy areas. Pale with transverse bands. Comb-shaped spearing appendage with 10- 11 teeth used for catching fish. Bilobed eyes covered with white spots. (Roy's List accessed 10 Oct 2018, link below)

Size

  • From 1.5 cm to 40 cm (Length according to Roy's List accessed 10 Oct 2018, link below.)

Synonyms

Similar taxa

Distribution


©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution

Local abundance

  • Lizard Island: This species is fairly common in shallow sandy areas all around the island. Their presence can be detected by their u-shaped burrows with entrances 4 to 5 cm in diameter and 1 to 1.5 metres apart, sometimes closed with a mucus/sand cap.

Web resources

References

  • Blanco, M.M. and S.N. Patek (2014). Muscle trade-offs in a power-amplified prey capture system. Evolution, 68: 1399-1414. LIRS catalog number 1777.
  • Feller, K.D. and T.W. Cronin (2016). Spectral absorption of visual pigments in stomatopod larval photoreceptors. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 202: 215-223. LIRS catalog number 1997.
  • Feller, K.D., J.H. Cohen and T.W. Cronin (2015). Seeing double: visual physiology of double-retina eye ontogeny in stomatopod crustaceans, Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 201: 331-339. LIRS catalog number 1876.
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