Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 1627 No. 1: 31 Oct. 2007
Type: Article
Published: 2007-10-31
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1627.1.3
Page range: 41–51
Abstract views: 38
PDF downloaded: 3

A new hermit crab species of the Pagurixus anceps group (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae) from southern Japan, and supplemental notes on P. patiae Komai, 2006

Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara-cho, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba, 955-2 Aoba-cho, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8682, Japan
Crustacea Decapoda Paguridae Pagurixus new species Japan distribution

Abstract

The pagurid hermit crab genus Pagurixus Melin, 1939, currently includes 24 species in the Indo-West Pacific, and recent studies have revealed the richness of this genus in southern Japan, particularly in coral reefs. In this paper, we deal with two species of the genus, P. dissimilis n. sp. described from southern Japan, and the recently described P. patiae Komai, 2006. The new species appears closest to P. nanus Komai & Takada, 2006 in both morphology and coloration in life, but is distinguished from the latter by having a clearly delimited dorsomesial margin of the dactylus of the right cheliped in males and females, a blunt but distinct median crest and a mesial row of small spines on the dorsal surface of the carpus of the male right cheliped, and paired gonopores in females. The newly obtained specimens of P. patiae from Okinawa Island enable us to describe the coloration in life of the species for the first time and to examine morphological variation. Brief notes on the distribution of the Japanese Pagurixus species are also provided.

References

  1. Asakura, A. (1991) Differences in the patterns of distribution of the porcelain crab, Petrolisthes japonicus on an oceanic island (Chichijima, Ogasawara) and on a continental island (Zamami, Okinawa). Researches on Crustacea, 20, 23–28.

    Forest, J. (1954) Crustacés Décapodes Marcheurs des Iles de Tahiti et des Tuamotu. I. Paguridea (suite). Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, 2e série, 26, 71–79.

    Forest, J. (1956) La faune des îles Cocos-Keeling. Paguridae. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, 27, 45–55.

    Fukuda, H. (1994) Marine Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands. Part 2: Neogastropoda, Heterobranchia and fossil species, with faunal accounts. Ogasawara Research (Tokyo Metropolitan University), 20, 1–126.

    Komai, T. (2006) A new species of Pagurixus Melin, 1939 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Anomura, Paguridae) from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Zoosystema, 28, 507–516.

    Komai, T. & Asakura, A. (1995) Pagurixus nomurai, new species, and additional record of Pagurixus maorus (Nobili, 1906), hermit crabs from Kume-jima Island, the Ryukyus, Japan (Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae). Journal of Crustacean Biology, 15, 341–154.

    Komai, T. & Myorin, E. (2005) A new species of Pagurixus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae) from southern Japan. Zootaxa, 876, 1–12.

    Komai, T. & Osawa, M. (2006) A review of the Pagurixus boninensis species group, with descriptions of six new species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae). Zootaxa, 1214, 1–107.

    Komai, T. & Osawa, M. (2007) A new species of the hermit crab genus Pagurixus Melin (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae) from the Indo-West Pacific. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 55, 97–105.

    Komai, T. & Takada, Y. (2006) A new species of the hermit crab genus Pagurixus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae) from shallow coral reefs of Ishigaki Island, Ryukyu Islands. Species Diversity, 11, 327–337.

    McLaughlin, P.A. (2003) Illustrated keys to families and genera of the superfamily Paguroidea (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura), with diagnoses of genera of Paguridae. Memoirs of Museum Victoria, 60, 111–144.

    Melin, G. (1939) Paguriden und Galatheiden von Prof. Dr. Sixten Bocks Expedition nach den Bonin-Inseln 1914. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlinger, Series 3, 18, 1–119.

    Minei, H. (1973) Studies on the hermit crabs (Anomura, Paguridea) of the Ryukyu Islands. Biological Magazine, Okinawa, 10, 43–56. [In Japanese]

    Nishimura, S. (1992) General remarks. In: Nishimura, S. (Ed.), Guide to Seashore Animals of Japan with Color Pictures and Keys, Vol. 1. Hoikusha, Osaka, pp. xi–xxxv. [In Japanese]

    Nobili, G. (1906) Diagnoses préliminaires de crustacés décapodes nouveaux recueillis par M. le Dr. G. Seurat aux îles Touamotou. Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, 12, 256–270.

    Okuno, J., Takeda, M. & Yokota, M. (2006) Inshore hermit crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) collected from the Izu Oceanic Park, eastern coast of Izu Peninsula, Japan. Memoirs of the National Science Museum, Tokyo, 41, 145–171. [In Japanese, with English abstract]

    Ortmann, A. (1892) Die Decapoden-Krebse des Strassburger Museums, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der von Herrn Dr. Döderlein bei Japan und bei den Liu-Kiu-Inseln gesammelten und zur Zeit im Strassburger Museum aufbewahrten Formen, IV. Die Abtheilungen Galatheidea und Paguridea. Zoologischen Jahrbücher, Abtheilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Thiere, 6, 241–326, pls. 11, 12.

    Osawa, M., Fujita, Y. & Okuno, J. (2006) Two new species of Pagurixus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae) from submarine caves of the Ryukyu Islands, southwestern Japan. Zootaxa, 1148, 27–45.