Pagurus brevidactylus (Stimpson, 1858)

Lemaitre, Rafael & Tavares, Marcos, 2015, New taxonomic and distributional information on hermit crabs (Crustacea: Anomura: Paguroidea) from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Atlantic coast of South America, Zootaxa 3994 (4), pp. 451-506 : 492

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.).