Planes major ( MacLeay, 1838 )

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 263-264

publication ID	11755334
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5255384
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C5657B52-FE9A-B214-44D1-F9CFCB6009A5
treatment provided by	Felipe (2021-08-24 08:22:12, last updated by Plazi 2023-11-04 15:45:02)
scientific name	Planes major ( MacLeay, 1838 )
status

Treatment

Planes major ( MacLeay, 1838) View in CoL

( Fig. 60F)

Nautilograpsus major MacLeay, 1838: 66 View in CoL .

Planes cyaneus Dana, 1851: 250 View in CoL . — Chace 1951: 65; 1966: 646. — Hart 1963: 127; 1982: 216, fig. 89. — Manning & Holthuis 1981: 235.

Planes minutus: Rathbun 1904: 189 View in CoL ; 1917: 253, pl. 63 (part). — Weymouth 1910: 63. Pl. 14. — Schmitt 1921: 272, pl. 46. — Johnson & Snook 1927: 397, fig. 353. — Garth 1946: 510.

Not Planes minutus ( Linnaeus, 1758) View in CoL .

Planes major View in CoL . — Ng & Ahyong 2001: 97, figs. 6 A, B (extensive synonymy).

Diagnosis. Carapace as long as broad, subcircular, almost smooth but for few faint lines on anterior, lateral regions, single blunt tooth behind postorbital angle, front sinuous. Chela broad, fingers somewhat deflexed, with several oblique lines on dorsal, ventral surfaces; somewhat obscure longitudinal line on lower portion of propodus; one tooth on inner margin of lower finger, 2–3 on dactyl. Pereopods 2–5 broad, somewhat flat, especially propodus, dactyl; anterior margins with dense fringe of setae, 1–3 spinules on lower distal margin of merus. Carapace length 15 mm.

Color in life. Very variable, mottled with yellowish brown or dark brown, white; or blue ( Schmitt 1921).

Habitat and depth. Pelagic among floating debris and barnacles ( Lepas spp. ) or on sea turtles, often near tail of sea turtle.

Range. Widespread between 41 o N and 35 o S in Pacific ; eastern Pacific from off British Columbia to Peru; Indian Ocean , South Atlantic Ocean ; rare in North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Type locality Pacific Ocean at 28 o N, 174 o E (west of Midway I.) .

Remarks. Specimens of P. major from off the Pacific coast of Panama were encrusted by the naked barnacle Conchoderma virgatum (Spengler, 1790) . Johnson & Snook (1927, as P. minutus ) reported that these crabs can swim by sweeping pereopods 2–5 like oars, backward and forward in unison.

Ng & Ahyong (2001) re-examined of the type material of Nautilograpsus major and found that its generic designation is a junior synonym of Planes , but the species name takes precedence over P. cyaneus . See this paper for further discussion of the confused nomenclature of this crab.

References

Chace, F. A. Jr. (1951) The grass shrimps of the genus Hippolyte from the west coast of North America. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 41, 35 - 39.

Hart, J. F. L. (1963) Oceanic crabs found off the coast of British Columbia. Canadian Field - Naturalist, 77, 127.

Hart, J. F. L. (1982) Crabs and their Relatives of British Columbia. British Columbia Provincial Museum Handbook 40, Victoria, 267 pp.

Johnson, M. E. & Snook, H. J. (1927) Seashore Animals of the Pacific Coast. Dover Publications, New York, reprint 1967, 659 pp.

Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema Naturae. Holmiae, Ed. 10, Vol. 1, 1 - 824.

MacLeay, W. S. (1838) On the brachyurous Crustacea brought from the Cape by Dr. Smith. In: Smith, A. Illustrations of the Annulosa of South Africa; Being a Portion of the Objects of Natural History Chiefly Collected During an Expedition into the Interior of South Africa, Under the Direction of Dr. Andrew Smith, in the Years 1834, 1835, and 1836; Fitted out by The Cape of Good Hope Association for Exploring Central Africa. Smith, Elder and Company, London, pp. 53 - 71.

Ng, P. & Ahyong, S. (2001) Brachyuran type specimens (Crustacea: Decapoda) in the MacLeay Collection, University of Sydney, Australia. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 49, 83 - 100.

Rathbun, M. J. (1904) Decapod crustaceans of the northwest coast of North America. Harriman Alaska Expedition, 10, 1 - 219.

Rathbun, M. J. (1917) The grapsoid crabs of America. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, 97, 1 - 445.

Schmitt, W. L. (1921) The marine decapod Crustacea of California. University of California Publications in Zoology, 23, 1 - 470.

Weymouth, F. W. (1910) Synopsis of the true crabs (Brachyura) of Monterey Bay, California. Leland Stanford Junior University Publications, University series 4, 1 - 64.