First Record of Lepas (Lepas) indica Annandale, 1909 (Cirripedia: Lepadidae) from the West Coast of India, with a Taxonomic Key to the Indian Species of the Genus Lepas
Santanu Mitra
*
Crustacea Division, Zoological Survey of India, Fire Proof Spirit Building, 27 J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata 700016, West Bengal, India.
Parimita Chowdhury
Crustacea Division, Zoological Survey of India, Fire Proof Spirit Building, 27 J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata 700016, West Bengal, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study documents Lepas (Lepas) indica Annandale, 1909 (Cirripedia: Lepadidae), a pelagic stalked barnacle species, collected from a single piece of driftwood washed ashore at Karwar, Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka, India (14.8311° N, 74.1250° E) on 1st September 2025. Sixty-eight specimens, deposited in the Crustacea Division of the Zoological Survey of India (registration no. CR878), were examined morphologically. Identification is supported by the laterally compressed subtriangular capitulum, strongly arched carinal margin bearing two or more prominent sinuous projections, quadrilateral scutum with an internal tooth on the left scutum and external basal ridges, lateral appendages, and mouthpart morphology. Published material-based records from India, cited in the taxonomic literature, are from Odisha and Tamil Nadu on the east coast. The present study material therefore represents the first documented occurrence of the species on the Indian west coast. A concise diagnosis, distributional account, and key to the four Indian species of Lepas are provided in the present study.
Keywords: Barnacle, Lepadidae, distribution record, stranded driftwood, Karnataka, West Coast, taxonomic key