New taxonomic and distributional information on hermit crabs (Crustacea: Anomura: Paguroidea) from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Atlantic coast of South America
Author
Lemaitre, Rafael
Author
Tavares, Marcos
text
Zootaxa
2015
3994
4
451
506
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3994.4.1
76173501-dcf8-4df8-947d-0e53637508c8
1175-5326
242551
A26ADF37-7936-486B-850D-C5932E13F2EC
Pagurus brevidactylus
(Stimpson, 1858)
Eupagurus brevidactylus
Stimpson, 1858: 237
(
type
locality by
neotype
selection by McLaughlin, 1975): Bathsheba,
Barbados
, West Indies).
Pagurus brevidactylus
.—
McLaughlin, 1975: 360, figs 1–3.—
Coelho & Santos, 1980
: 143
.—Lemaitre
et al.
, 1982: 675.—
Rieger, 1998
: 413
.—
Melo, 1999
: 122
, figs 65, 66.—
Nucci
et al.
, 2007
: 48
, figs 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A.—
Coelho
et al.
, 2007
: 10
, tab. 4.—
Almeida
et al.
, 2010
: 361
.—
McLaughlin
et al.
, 2010
: 32
.
New material.
Brazil
.
Espírito Santo,
TAAF
MD55, sta 23 DC 40,
20°39.8’S
,
34°41.1’W
,
60 m
,
17 May 1987
: 1 ov female
1.6 mm
(
MZUSP
16832).
Diagnosis.
See McLaughlin (1975), and Lemaitre
et al.
(1982).
Color.
(From McLaughlin 1975: 363) “In life: Shield with broad black to blackish-green longitudinal stripes laterally, reddish-brown longitudinal median stripe. Ocular peduncles mottled light pink with brownish and greenish-black stripes; corneae deep pink; ocular acicles light pink. Antennular and antennal peduncles greenish or brownish-black; antennal flagella greenish-brown or black, interrupted every 3–6 articles by 1 white article. Chelipeds white with 2 dorsal longitudinal stripes of greenish or brownish-black continued onto carpi; lateral and mesial faces each with 1 or 2 similarly colored stripes. Ambulatory legs white with dorsal, lateral, mesial and ventral longitudinal stripes of greenish or brownish black and darker broad transverse band medially on each segment, lateral faces also with median longitudinal stripe of red or reddish-brown, occasionally greenish-brown. In preservative: greenish or brownish-black color of stripes turning to reddish-orange or orange and fading in time.”
Distribution.
Western Atlantic:
Bermuda
, Florida, Gulf of
Mexico
, throughout the Caribbean, and Atlantic coast of South
America
from
Venezuela
to Santa Catarina,
Brazil
. Depth: shallow water to
73 m
.
Remarks.
Following the clarification of the identity of this species by McLaughlin (1975),
Pagurus brevidactylus
has been reported broadly in the western Atlantic, from
Bermuda
to
Brazil
(
e.g.
,
Sánchez & Campos 1978
; Lemaitre
et al.
1982;
Abele & Kim 1986
;
Sterrer 1986
;
Strasser & Price 1999
; Hernández
et al.
2007; Felder
et al.
2009;
Nucci
et al.
2007
). Currently, this abundant species is considered to exhibit significant morphological variations (Lemaitre
et al.
1982), including various color patterns that deviate from the documented coloration provided by
Provenzano (1959)
and McLaughlin (1975), and conceivably reflect cryptic species confused under this name (D.L. Felder, pers. comm.). Ongoing molecular and morphological evaluations of populations of
P. brevidactylus
from throughout its presumed distributional range, might assist in reaching a precise definition of the boundaries and range of this taxon (Lemaitre
et al.
, in prep.).