First record of the rarely known squat lobster, Allomunida magnicheles Baba, 1988 (Decapoda: Anomura: Galatheoidea: Galatheidae) from the Indian Ocean

Abstract The present study reports the rarely recorded species of the family Galatheidae, Allomunida magnicheles Baba 1988, based on material from the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. The specimens attached to an unidentified soft coral of the genus Dendronephthya Kükenthal, 1905, were collected using a Smith McIntyre grab from the depth of 52 m in the southwestern Bay of Bengal. Allomunida magnicheles was known only from the Sulu Sea and Tañon Strait, the Philippines; the present specimens greatly extend the distribution range of the species westwards to the Indian Ocean. Morphological description and intraspecific variations of A. magnicheles are provided.