Eucrate dorsalis ( White, 1849 )

CASTRO, PETER & NG, PETER K. L., 2010, Revision of the family Euryplacidae Stimpson, 1871 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Goneplacoidea), Zootaxa 2375 (1), pp. 1-130 : 27-29

Eucrate dorsalis ( White, 1849)

( Figs. 5A–F ; 6 A–F ; 7A, B ; 14G–I)

Cancer (Galene) dorsalis White, 1849: 144 , pl. 6, figs. 2, 2a [ Australia].

Galene ? laevimanus Lucas , in Jacquinot & Lucas, 1853: 40, pl. 9, figs. 4, 4” [unknown location].

Galene dorsalis White 1861 : pl. 2.

Eucrate hamiltoni McCulloch 1908: 58 , pl. 12, figs. 1, 1 a [Queensland, Australia]. — Tesch 1918: 158 [in key]. — Serène et al. 1974: 24 [ Moluccas, Indonesia].

Eucrate dorsalis — McCulloch 1909: 314 [Queensland, Australia]. — Campbell 1969: 118 [in key], 133, figs. 2, 6 [Queensland, Australia]. — Guinot 1971: 1080 [in list]. — Davie 1998: 252 [colour photograph]; 2002: 199 [in list]. — Thoma 2007: 300 [Western Australia.] — Hutchins & Gomez 2007: 331 [in list] [Western Australia]. — Ng et al. 2008: 78 [in list].

Type material. Male dry lectotype, 20.2 mm × 24.8 mm ( NHM 1852.71 ; Fig. 5D ) ; 1 male paralectotype, 36.6 mm × 46.5 mm ( NHM 1850.112 ; Fig. 5B, C ) ; 1 male paralectotype, 22.0 mm × 29.6 mm ( NHM 1856.135 ) .

Type locality. Australia, Queensland, Moreton Bay.

Holotype of Galene ? laevimanus Lucas , in Jacquinot & Lucas, 1853: 1 dry male, 28.7 mm × 36.5 mm, Astrolabe and Zélée Expedition, unknown location ( MNHN-B 2960).

Material examined. Australia. Queensland, Moreton Bay, purchased by Warwick : male dry lectotype, 20.2 mm × 24.8 mm ( NHM 1852.71 ) .

Queensland, east end of Mud I., 15– 22.10.1979, S. Cook coll.: 1 pre-adult female, 1 female ( LACM); 26.10.1979: 1 male ( LACM) .

Queensland, Townsville Closure, C. Jones coll., 11.02.1986: 1 female, 31.7 mm × 40.7 mm (QM W12788) .

Queensland, Bundaberg, 1–1.5 miles south of Burnett River, 40 miles offshore, 9 m, sand and mud, G. Limpus coll., 18.12.1969, B.M. Campbell id.: 1 male, 39.0 mm × 46.7 mm (QM W3191).

Australia, unknown location, coll. Mr. Statchbury, purchased by Cuming: 1 male dry paralectotype, 22.0 mm × 29.6 mm ( NHM 1856.135 ) .

Australia, unknown location, coll. Mr. MacGillivray, presented by Mr. Doubleday, voyage of HMS Rattlesnake: 1 male dry paralectotype, 36.6 mm × 46.5 mm ( NHM 1850.112 ) .

Unknown location. Astrolabe and Zélée Expedition, M. Languillou coll.: 1 male holotype of Galene ? laevimanus Lucas , in Jacquinot & Lucas, 1853, dry, 28.7 mm × 36.5 mm ( MNHN-B 2960).

Diagnosis. Third anterolateral tooth visible (except large individuals), carapace with relatively short posterolateral borders ( Figs. 5A, B, D–F ; 6A, B ; 7B ). P5 propodus slender ( Figs. 5A, E ; 6B ). Large reddish median spot, scattered small dots on carapace ( Figs. 5A, B, D ; 6A ).

Remarks. White (1849:144) provided an excellent drawing that shows a large nearly hexagonal spot on the dorsal surface of the carapace and small dots on the anterior and anterolateral portions of the carapace and chelipeds. It was described as having “beautiful dotted surface, the large liver-coloured mark on the middle of its carapace”. This colour pattern is diagnostic of the species although the small dots are always present but the large spot may be absent. The small dots are grouped in clusters, sometimes forming circles.

White’s syntypes, three dry males, are still extant at NHM. One of these specimens ( NHM 1850.112 ) has a hexagonal spot on the carapace that almost exactly matches that of the specimen figured by White (1849). The most complete of the two specimens still showing the characteristic carapace spot (20.2 mm × 24.8 mm [NHM 1852.71, Fig. 5D ]) is hereby selected as the lectotype, the other two specimens as paralectotypes (36.6 mm × 46.5 mm [NHM 1850.112, Fig. 5B, C ]; 22.0 mm × 29.6 mm, [NHM 1856.135]) .

Also diagnostic of the species is the reduction of the anterolateral teeth in large individuals, although in smaller ones the second tooth is conspicuous and dorsally salient ( Campbell 1969: fig. 6K), somewhat similar to that in E. alcocki , E. formosensis , and E. sexdentata (see Remarks for E. alcocki ).

Galene ? laevimanus Lucas , in Jacquinot & Lucas, 1853, is probably a junior synonym of E. dorsalis . The dry male holotype (28.7 mm × 36.5 mm; MNHN-B2960; 3060 in catalog; Fig. 5E, F ) and the description by Lucas (Jacquinot, H. & Lucas, H. 1853: 40, pl. 9, figs. 4, 4”) agree well with White’s description and illustration of E. dorsalis and with the rest of the material examined. The colour of Lucas’ specimen, however, was described as gris cendré clair (light ash-gray) without any indication of the characteristic red spot on the carapace. No spot was shown in the gray-brown carapace shown in the colour figure ( Fig. 7A ; Jacquinot & Lucas 1853: pl. 9, figs. 4, 4” in Atlas [by Hombron, J.B. & Jacquinot, H. 1852] and original print in RMNH), and the dry male holotype does not show any remains of colour. The holotype was obtained from an unknown location (Cette espèce a pour patrie?) by the Astrolabe and Zélée expedition, which traversed the western and southern Pacific Ocean.

Colouration. Large reddish spot on the median portion of the carapace and small dots along most of the dorsal surface of the carapace ( Figs. 5A, B, D ; 6A ; 7B ; Davie 1998: 252 [colour photograph]). Campbell (1969: 134) describes specimens where the central spot is replaced by a complete or incomplete ring of “speckles with or without more sparsely distributed specks inside this ring”.

Distribution. Western Australia and Queensland, Australia. Depth: shallow subtidal to at least 9 m.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Eucrate dorsalis (White, 1849); A, male paralectotye (NHM 1850.112) as originally illustrated in White (1849: pl. 6, fig. 2), Australia, Queensland; B, C, dry male paralectotype of Cancer (Galene) dorsalis White, 1849 (36.6 mm × 46.5 mm; NHM 1850.112), Australia, Queensland; D, dry male lectotype of Cancer (Galene) dorsalis White, 1849 (20.2 mm × 24.8 mm; NHM 1852.71), Australia, Queensland; Galene? laevimanus Lucas, in Jacquinot & Lucas 1853; E, F, dry male lectotype (28.7 mm × 36.5 mm) (MNHN-B2960); A, D, E, overall views; B, F, dorsal views of carapaces; C, ventral view of carapace. Photo credits: B–D by P. Crabb (NHM); E, F by J.-F. Dejouannet (IRD, Paris).

FIGURE 6. Eucrate dorsalis (White, 1849); A, female (31.7 mm × 40.7 mm) (QM W12788), Australia, Queensland, Townsville Closure; B–F, male (39.0 mm × 46.7 mm) (QM W3191), Australia, Queensland, Bundaberg. A–B, overall views; C, frontal view showing orbits and antennae; D, outer surface of right chela; E, anterior portion of male thoracic sternum and abdomen; F, posterior portion of male thoracic sternum and abdomen.

FIGURE 7. Fresh colours of Eucrate species. A, Galene? laevimanus Lucas, in Jacquinot & Lucas, 1853 [= E. dorsalis (White, 1849]), male lectotype (28.7 mm × 36.5 mm) (MNHN-B2960) (after Lucas, in Jacquinot & Lucas 1853: pl. 6 fig. 2); B, E. dorsalis (White, 1849), Queensland, Australia; C–F, E. solaris Yang & Sun, 1979; C, male (23.3 mm × 28.1 mm) (ZRC 2008.1333), Philippines, Bohol, Panglao; D, female (26.2 mm × 31.5 mm) (ZRC 2008.1335), Vanuatu, Santo; E, male (19.5 mm × 23.5 mm) (ZRC 2001.0537), Philippines, Bohol, Panglao; F, male (23.6 mm × 28.1 mm) (ASIZ-74626), Penghu Bay, Taiwan. Photo credit: B by Queensland Museum.