Callinectes marginatus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1861 )

Parasram, Nadeshinie, Santana, William & Vallès, Henri, 2023, Checklist of the shallow-water marine Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) of Barbados, West Indies, Zootaxa 5314 (1), pp. 1-62 : 34-35

Callinectes marginatus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1861)

( Figs. 16D–E )

Neptunus marginatus A. Milne-Edwards, 1861: 318 , pl. 30, fig. 2 [type-locality: Gabon; types in MNHN].

Callinectes larvatus Ordway, 1863: 573 .

Callinectes diacanthus var. africanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1879: 229 ; A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier 1900: 71.

Callinectes marginatus .— Rathbun 1897: 23; 1900: 291; 1901: 48; 1921: 395, fig. 2, pl. 19, fig. 1, pl. 20; 1930: 123, figs. 15e, 16d, 17d, 18c, pl. 53; 1933: 49; 1936: 383; Chace 1956: 154; Chace & Hobbs 1969: 131, fig. 37d; Monod 1956: 208, figs. 238, 239; Williams 1974: 722, figs. 3, 18a, 20a, 22b, 27; Keith 1985: 261, fig. 6D; Ng et al. 2008: 150; Poupin 2018: 207; Mantelatto et al. 2020: 63; Jarquín-González et al. 2022: 6, tab. 2, 8, fig. 2.

Callinectes humphreyi Jones, 1968: 187 .

Distribution. Western and Eastern Atlantic. Western Atlantic: USA (Virginia to Florida), Bermuda, Jamaica, Gulf of Mexico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, St. Croix, St. Barthélemy, Barbuda, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, Isla de Margarita, Isla de Cubagua, Los Roques, Tortuga, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, and Brazil; Eastern Atlantic: Cape Verde Islands, Senegal to central Angola ( Rathbun 1897; Poupin 2018; Mantelatto et al. 2020; present study).

Material examined. Barbados, Brandons , St. Michael, subtidal, 13°06’59.88”N, 59°037’44.52”W, 4 Ô (juv.) CW: 22.8, 20.4, 16.1, 15.7 ( BLSZ 128 ) . Drill Hall , St. Michael, nearshore rubble, 13°04’36.30”N, 59°36’26.63”W, 7 Ô, 1 ♀ (juv.) CW: 67.7, 63.8, 49.2, 54.4 47.6, 46.2, 56.0, 59.6 mm ( BLSZ 058 ) . Idem , 1 juv., CW: 20.0 mm ( BLSZ 230 ) . Coconut Court , Christ Church, nearshore rubble, 13°04’31.59”N, 59°036’13.78”W, 1 ♀ CW: 81.8 mm ( BLSZ 057 ) .

Remarks. This is the first record of Callinectes marginatus from Barbados; caught by hand in nearshore rubble at low tide and in crab traps placed on sandy bottoms (~ 4m deep) on the west and south coasts of Barbados. This species is very abundant in nearshore rubble habitats on the south coast. Jones (1968b: 187) described a new species, Callinectes humphreyi Jones 1968 , which he listed as endemic to Barbados. His description of this presumed new species, however, is based on the colour (white) of juvenile specimens. Williams (1974: 739) synonymized Callinectes humphreyi with Callinectes ornatus Ordway, 1863 . According to Williams (1974: 741), Jones had indicated that the type specimen of Callinectes humphreyi was lost by accident in 1969 and therefore could not be examined. Given Jones’ (1968b) minimal description of Callinectes humphreyi and stated similarity to C. ornatus, Williams (1974) assumed that C. humphreyi was a juvenile colour variety of Callinectes ornatus . This study collected one juvenile specimen of Callinectes marginatus ( Fig. 16E ), which has the same colour (white) as the presumed new species ( Callinectes humphreyi ) described by Jones (1968b: 187). Given this, we suggest that the synonym Callinectes humphreyi is in fact based on a juvenile of Callinectes marginatus instead of Callinectes ornatus . Callinectes marginatus can be identified by four teeth on the frontal margin of carapace, median pair greatly reduced, lateral pair triangular shaped, and short first gonopods in males, which reaches about mid-length of thoracic sternite VII ( Williams 1974).

Figures

FIGURE 16. Superfamily Portunoidea Rafinesque, 1815, dorsal habitus: A, Achelous anceps (de Saussure, 1857), male, cw 30.5 mm (BLSZ 271); B, Achelous sebae (H. Milne Edwards, 1834), female, cw 56.6 mm (BLSZ 245); C, Achelous ventralis (A. Milne-Edwards, 1879), male, cw 29.1 mm (BLSZ 185); D, Callinectes marginatus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1861), female, cw 81.8 mm (BLSZ 057); E, juvenile specimen of Callinectes marginatus, cw 20.0 mm (BLSZ 230). Scale bars: 20 mm.