Camptoplax Miers, 1884

Ng, Peter K. L. & Anker, Arthur, 2024, Camptoplax ahmar sp. nov., a new pilumnid crab (Crustacea: Brachyura) from the Red Sea, Zootaxa 5496 (1), pp. 119-126 : 119-120

Camptoplax Miers, 1884

Camptoplax Miers, 1884: 239 .— Serène 1968: 78.— Davie 1993: 68.— Ng et al. 2008: 143.

Type species. Camptoplax coppingeri Miers, 1884 , by monotypy; gender feminine.

Other species included. Camptoplax ahmar sp. nov. (see below).

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific: northern Australia ( Miers 1884), Chesterfield Islands ( Davie 1993); Red Sea (present study).

Remarks. The pilumnid genus Camptoplax Miers, 1884 , was established for the single species, C. coppingeri , from Prince of Wales Channel, Torres Strait, Australia, on the basis of two male specimens, the larger being 6.0 × 5.0 mm. Although Miers (1884) did not assign Camptoplax to any brachyuran family, he compared his new genus to several genera, most of which today being part of the Goneplacidae ( Davie 1993) . The affinities of Camptoplax were discussed at length by Davie (1993), who showed that it is clearly a pilumnid genus. Davie (1993: 68) designated one of the two male syntypes of C. coppingeri (Natural History Museum, London, catalogue number BMNH 1882.7) as the lectotype of the species, but did not indicate its size; presumably, it was the larger male reported and figured by Miers (1884). In the same study, Davie (1993) redescribed C. coppingeri based on the lectotype and the single male from Chesterfield Islands, providing additional illustrations.