Leptograpsus gayi H. Milne Edwards, 1853

(Fig. 6C)

Leptograpsus Gayi H. Milne Edwards, 1853: 138 [172].

CURRENT TAXONOMIC STATUS. — Junior subjective synonym of Leptograpsus variegatus (Fabricius, 1793) (see Griffin 1973: 418, 423; Ng et al. 2008: 217).

LECTOTYPE (by present designation). — MNHN-IU-2000-3531 (= MNHN-B3531), ♂ 22.6 × 25.6 mm, Valparaiso, Chile, coll. C. Gay, 1828-1832. — Original labels: “ Leptograpsus planifrons Dana, Valparaiso, M. Gay, 1828-1832 ”; “ L. planifrons (= Leptograpsus gayi, Edw. Type)”.

PRESERVATION. — Dry. LP3 missing.

REMARKS

Henri Milne Edwards (1853) dedicated this species to Claude Gay, who collected material in Chile (see Appendix). Previously, Nicolet in Gay (1849: 167) in the Historia de Chile identified their material from Chile as Grapsus variegatus (Fabricius, 1793) . Griffin (1973: 418, 423), based on the inaccurate information provided by D. Guinot, stated that the type of L. gayi was not extant, and he synonymised this species with L. variegatus . According to Davie (2002: 216) the holotype of L. gayi was deposited at the MNHN, and indeed, one specimen, MNHN-IU-2000-3531 (= MNHN-B3531), from Valparaiso, Chile, with the name of Gay and labelled “Type” has been found in the MNHN dry collection. It is designated here as the lectotype of Leptograpsus gayi .