Xanthias Rathbun, 1897

Mendoza, Jose Christopher E., 2013, A new species of ocellated Xanthias Rathbun, 1897 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Xanthidae) from the Bohol Sea, Philippines, Zootaxa 3636 (2), pp. 374-384 : 375

Xanthias Rathbun, 1897 sensu lato

Remarks. The genus Xanthias Rathbun, 1897 , is poorly defined, and, as presently composed (14 spp.; Ng et al. 2008), polyphyletic. A study on the phylogeny of the brachyuran family Xanthidae MacLeay, 1838 , by Lai et al. (2011) showed selected representatives of the genus, including the type species, Xanthias lamarckii (H. Milne Edwards, 1834) , falling into separate, independent clades. In the same study, the subfamily Xanthinae was also shown to be polyphyletic, with representative species, including those belonging to the type genus Xantho Leach, 1814 , distributed among at least 10 clades (Lai et al. 2011). The implication is that Xanthias will have to be properly defined and restricted, and that some of the species included at present will have to be assigned to other genera. For the present work, however, the new species described herein is placed in Xanthias sensu lato and Xanthinae sensu lato, with the understanding that it is probably not congeneric with X. lamarckii and is probably not a true xanthine. The establishment of a separate genus for this new species is premature, and such action should be done in context, with a proper examination of all the other species of Xanthias and the rest of the Xanthinae . This would then require a systematic revision at the genus and subfamily levels, which is beyond the scope of the present work.