Porcellana cancrisocialis Glassell, 1936

Ferreira, Luciane Augusto De Azevedo & Anker, Arthur, 2021, An annotated and illustrated checklist of the porcelain crabs of Panama (Decapoda: Anomura), Zootaxa 5045 (1), pp. 1-154 : 128-131

Porcellana cancrisocialis Glassell, 1936

( Fig. 82 )

Porcellana cancrisocialis Glassell 1936: 292 ; Haig 1957b: 13; Haig 1960: 200, fig. 9(2), pl. 38, fig. 2; Haig 1962: 187; Gore & Abele 1976: 25; Garcia-Guerrero et al. 2006: 1123, figs. 1–5; García-Madrigal & Andréu-Sánchez 2009: 43; Moscoso 2012: 83.

Porcellana crancrisocialis (lap. cal.)— Lazarus-Agudelo & Cantera-Kintz 2007: 230.

Material examined. None from Panama. Extra-limital material. Colombia [Pacific]: 1 male, cl cw indet., 1 female, cl cw indet. (CRBM-UV-cr:2019-174), Golfo de Tortugas, exact locality not specified, leg. J.F. Lazarus, 2009 [examined and identified by J.F. Lazarus-Agudelo] .

Previous records from Panama. Haig (1960, 1962); Gore & Abele (1976); Gore (1982).

Distribution. East Pacific: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama (Secas Is., offshore from Juan Díaz and Aguadulce, Panama Canal area, south of Ladrones I., Taboga Is., Las Perlas Is., Golfo de Chimán), Colombia, Ecuador and Peru ( Haig 1960; Gore & Abele 1976; Gore 1982; Hiller et al. 2004; Moscoso 2012).

Ecology. Mostly subtidal, rarely in the lowest intertidal, known depth range: 0–108 m; on muddy, sandy, gravel and coralline bottoms; adults typically associated with larger hermit crabs, viz. Petrochirus californiensis Bouvier , Dardanus sinistripes (Stimpson) , Aniculus elegans Stimpson and Paguristes digueti Bouvier ; juveniles may be free-living; ( Glassell 1936; Haig 1960; Gore & Abele 1976; Garcia-Guerrero et al. 2006).

Remarks. Porcellana cancrisocialis appears to be sibling species of the western Atlantic P. sayana ( Leach, 1820) , with almost no significant morphological differences ( Haig 1960). Glassell (1936) described the colour pattern of the living crabs as following: “Ground color [of the carapace / body] an ivory yellow, overcast with lavender and blood red spots. Protogastric regions lighter (white in alcohol). Chelipeds [P1] same as carapace. Ambulatory legs [P2–P4] banded on propodus with white.” The specimens from Golfo de Tortugas, Colombia, display a rather remarkable variation in the colour pattern, with one individual (female) having a brown-orange carapace and P1–P4 covered with whitish or bluish spots and blotches, and the other individual (male) having a uniform whitish carapace and most of P1, and P2–P4 brownish with bluish blotches ( Fig. 82 ). The first colour pattern is similar to the common colour morph of P. sayana , which is known to be highly variable in respect to colour pattern (see below).

Figures

FIGURE 82. Porcellana cancrisocialis Glassell, 1936: extra-limital specimens, A, female (cl cw indet.) from Golfo de Tortugas, Colombia (CRBM-UV-cr:2019-174), dorsal view; B, male (cl cw indet.) from the same locality (CRBM-UV-cr:2019-174), dorsal view [photographs courtesy of Juan Felipe Lazarus-Agudelo].