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
39729
10.11646/zootaxa.3994.4.1
76173501-dcf8-4df8-947d-0e53637508c8
1175-5326
242551
A26ADF37-7936-486B-850D-C5932E13F2EC
Pylopagurus discoidalis
(
A. Milne-Edwards, 1880
)
(
Fig. 1
E)
Eupagurus discoidalis
A. Milne-Edwards, 1880
: 41
(
type
locality: USCSS
Blak
e, sta 157, off
Monserrat
, Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles).
Pylopagurus discoidalis
.—
Coelho, 1971
: 232
.—
Coelho & Ramos, 1973
: 166
.—
Coelho & Santos, 1980
: 143
.—Coelho & Ramos-Porto, 1987: 43.—
Rieger, 1998
: 416
.—
Melo, 1999
: 144
, figs 85, 86.—McLaughlin & Lemaitre, 2001: 451, figs 4– 6 [and synonymy therein].—
Lemaitre & McLaughlin, 2003
: 482
.—
Coelho
et al
., 2007
: 10
.—
McLaughlin
et al.
, 2010
: 35
.—
Nucci & Melo, 2011
: 37
, figs 1M, 2M,
3M.
New material.
Curaçao
.
Curasub
12–09,
306 m
,
24 May 2012
:
1 male
6.3 mm
, 1 ov female
5.8 mm
,
CURI
12030,
CURI
12031 (
USNM
1253259),
1 female
5.1 mm
(
USNM
1253260);
Curasub
12–12, 290 m
,
7 Aug 2012
:
1 male
6.0 mm,
CURI
12107 (
USNM
1253261),
1 male
3.7 mm
CURI
12136 (
USNM
1253262);
Curasub
12–13, 286 m
,
8 Aug 2012
:
1 female
5.7 mm
,
CURI
12143 (
USNM
1253263);
Curasub
12–14, 123–
256 m
,
9 Aug 2012
:
1 female
5.1 mm
, (
USNM
1253264).
Brazil
.
TAAF
MD55, 63 CB 104,
23°42’S
,
42°07’W
,
430 m
,
1 Jun 1987
:
3 females
1.8–2.1 mm
, (
MZUSP
16828); Bacia de Campos, Bloco BM–S–4, Belmonte 3, sta 4,
18°48’19.50”S
,
032°18’05.37”W
,
320 m
, Vinicius Padula,
30 Nov 2009
:
8 males
1.3–5.8 mm
(
MZUSP
23514).
Diagnosis.
See McLaughlin & Lemaitre (2001), and
Nucci & Melo (2011)
.
Distribution.
Western Atlantic: southeastern coast of
United States
(North Carolina to Florida), Gulf of
Mexico
, Caribbean Sea, to Santa Catarina,
Brazil
. Depth:
11 to 1020 m
.
Color
(
Fig. 1
E). Shield, pleon, and fourth and fifth pereopods light orange. Ocular peduncles white with dark orange band basally. Right cheliped with coloration on dorsal (outer) surface of chela variable: white with dark orange band on dactyl and fixed finger, or white dark orange along midportion of palm from bases of fingers to proximal palm ridge; proximal surface of chela dark orange; merus and carpus white with prominent dark orange patches on dorsal, lateral and mesial surfaces. Left cheliped: chela white with dark orange proximally; merus and carpus white with wide dark orange band. Ambulatory legs (second and third pereopods): dactyl white with light orange proximal portion; propodus white with dark distal orange band; carpus white with distal and proximal dark orange bands.
Remarks.
Although
Pylopagurus discoidalis
has been abundantly reported in the temperate to tropical western Atlantic (McLaughlin & Lemaitre 2001, 2003), its southern limit of distribution was previously known to be near the Equator, off the coast of Amapá,
Brazil
. The extent of the southernmost limit of this species was only recently discovered by
Nucci & Melo (2011)
, who reported specimens from Amapá to Santa Catarina,
Brazil
. The materials reported herein from off Rio Janeiro, add more records of this species from its southern limits, and confirms that this species is common along almost the entire Brazilian coast.
The coloration of
Pylopagurus discoidalis
has been documented almost exclusively based on specimens that have retained color patterns after preservation. Until the present report, no photographs of live specimens of this species were available. The remarkable color photograph included herein (
Fig. 1
E), was taken of three specimens inhabiting scaphopod shells, collected in
Curaçao
during a
Curasub
dive and brought to the surface where they were kept alive in aquaria.