Abstract: | The deep-sea species of the Charybdis miles group occurring in the western Indian Ocean are revised on the basis of recent collections obtained by German and Russian expeditions. Two new species are described, Charybdis meteor sp. n. from the Straits of Bab el Mandeb and Charybdis crosnieri sp. n. from the insular margins and seamounts of the western Indian Ocean, which has been previously identified as Charybdis sagamiensis Parisi, 1916. The C. miles group represents a lineage with a probably relatively recent tendency for submergence which culminated in the formation of C. acutidens Türkay, 1986, a characteristic species of the deep Red Sea water mass. |