Crustacea Decapoda: The Sponge Crabs (Dromiidae) of New Caledonia and the Philippines with a review of the genera
McLay, C.L. (1993). Crustacea Decapoda: The Sponge Crabs (Dromiidae) of New Caledonia and the Philippines with a review of the genera, in: Crosnier, A. (Ed.) Résultats des Campagnes MUSORSTOM 10. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Série A, Zoologie, 156: pp. 111-251
In: Crosnier, A. (Ed.) (1993). Résultats des Campagnes MUSORSTOM 10. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Série A, Zoologie, 156. Editions du Muséum: Paris. ISBN 2-85653-206-3. 491 pp., more
In: Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Série A, Zoologie. Editions du Muséum: Paris. ISSN 0078-9747, more
|   |
| Abstract |
Although this paper concerns a large collection of dromiid crabs from the Philippine Islands and New Caledonia, with a few specimens from Indonesia and Hawaii, the opportunity is taken to review and revise most of the genera of the Dromiidae. The basis of the revision involves a much wider range of characters than have been used before. Excessive emphasis on the nature of the female sternal grooves is abandoned, and more attention is paid to relative dimensions and ornamentation of the carapace, arrangement of spines on and around the dactyli of all the legs, fusion of the last two segments of the abdomen, and size of the uropod plates. A new set of characters describing the second antenna and the male abdominal locking mechanism are also used. The importance of the cheliped epipod character is discussed and is shown to be variable in some genera. A total of 28 genera are defined or redefined and a key to their identification is provided, along with keys to the identification of 99 species in these genera. The following genera are restricted and/or redefined : Cryptodromia Stimpson, 1858, Cryptodromiopsis Borradaile, 1903, Dromia Weber, 1795, Dromidia Stimpson, 1858, Dromidiopsis Borradaile, 1900, Epigodromia (a replacement name for Epidromia Kossmann, 1818, which is preoccupied), Homalodromia Miers, 1884, Paradromia Balss, 1921, Pelalomera Stimpson, 1858, and Pseudodromia Stimpson, 1858, resulting in the creation of 10 new genera. Ascidiophilus Richters, 1880, Conchoecetes Stimpson, 1858, Epipedodromia André, 1932, Eudromidia Barnard, 1947, Exodromidia Stebbing, 1905, Hemisphaerodromia Barnard, 1954, Hypoconcha Guérin-Méneville, 1854, Speodromia Barnard, 1947, and Sphaerodromia Alcock, 1899, remain unmodified. After the elimination of many synonyms and together with the new material described herein, the Dromiidae now includes 29 genera and 109 species. The generic revision has major implications for the dromiid crabs of, not only the Philippines and New Caledonia but also, the rest of the Indo-Pacific region, Australia, South Africa, and the Atlantic. Until now only six species of dromiid crabs were known from New Caledonia and the Philippine Islands. This number is increased to 29 species belonging to 13 genera. The most common species are Lauridromia intermedia (Laurie, 1906) nov. comb., Petalomera pulchra Miers, 1884, Cryptodromia coronata Stimpson, 1858, Dromidiopsis dubia Lewinsohn, 1984, and Epigodromia areolata (Ihle, 1913) nov. comb. Most of these dromiids come from shallow water, less than 100 m, and the maximum number of species occurs in the depth interval of 30-60 m. The greatest depth of 437 m is shown by Frodromia atypica (Sakai, 1936) nov. comb. There is a large range of body size from a few millimetres, for Honialodromia coppingeri, to around 200 mm CW, for Dromia dormia. Egg size ranges from 0.4 mm to 1.1 mm diameter but there is no evidence of direct development amongst these dromiids. The apparent biogeographic affinities of the dromiids from New Caledonia and the Philippines are, in decreasing order, with Japan, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Australia. The apparent affinity with Japan may well be an artifact of more intensive collecting. The most wide ranging species are Lauridromia intermedia (Laurie, 1906), Dromia dormia (Linnaeus, 1763), D. wilsoni (Fulton & Grant, 1902) nov. comb., Cryptodromiopsis unidentata (Rüppell, 1830) nov. comb., Cryptodromia hilgendorfi De Man, 1888, and C.faliax (Lamarck, 1818) nov. comb. These species also represent the most wide ranging genera. The collection of species largely consists of widely distributed species typical of an island fauna. |
|
