Calappa gallus (Herbst, 1803)

Shaga, I Bevin, Priya, K, Ramar, Selvakumar, Srinidhi, S, Mohan, G Chandra, Ranganathan, Sukanya, Moulvi, S M M & Mani, Bhuvaneswari, 2023, A Small Collection of Subtidal Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from the Palau Islands Collected by Dredging, Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science. Series A, Zoology 49 (1), pp. 7-42 : 8-9

Calappa gallus (Herbst, 1803)

Material examined. Off Kwannon , Koror I., Palau Is., dredged, with coralline algae; 1 juv. (cb 10.0×cl 8.6 mm), NSMT-Cr 30953; June 17, 1980; K. Baba leg. ʕ Kayangel Atoll., north of Babelthuap I., Palau Is., lagoon, dredged, 4 m in depth; 4 juv. (9.5× 6.6 mm ʕ 16.5× 11.6 mm), NSMT-Cr 30954; July 6, 1980; K. Baba leg.

Remarks. All of the five specimens examined are juvenile, but the carapace dorsal ornamentation and the shape of both chelipeds are close to those of the adult specimens, only with slightly narrower carapace contour. Buitendijk (1939: pl. 8 fig. 5) recorded and figured a young specimen of cb 8 mm as Calappa lophos ( Herbst, 1782) dredged from 6–10 m in depth near Koepang, Timor, but the specimen should be referred to C. gallus instead, as the author herself considered its identification with some doubts.

This species is commonly found at the tidal and subtidal sandy bottom. Galil (1997) recorded many specimens from various localities in the Indo-West Pacific.

Distribution. Geographically known from the whole Indo-West Pacific, and bathymetrically from coral reefs and rocky shores down to 140 m. The records of C. gallus from the Atlantic were amended to those of C. galloides Stimpson, 1859 , by Manning and Chace (1990). Takeda (1973) recorded this species from the Palau Islands.